Broken
by Miss Starfire
Summary: The last Makluan ring guardian made it clear that Pepper Potts was more worthy than Gene Khan to possess the power of the rings. What if she had no choice but to accept this truth as her fate? How will Tony cope with a Pepper that has been broken? WARNING: Pure, unadulterated, diabetic coma-inducing, Pepperony fluff.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! After refusing to get into another fandom, particularly one that, for a time, looked to me sort of like a terrible AU high school fanfic with no plot, I've resigned myself to accept that there** is** something interesting about _Iron Man: Armored Adventures_. At first I hated it because it made my favorite characters act in ways that made me cringe, but after forcing myself to watch the series to help me with my Movie-verse _Iron Man_ fic, I decided that IMAA was not _that_ bad –if you squint. Hence, here is my first attempt at paying back the IMAA fandom for helping me with my _Man in a Can_ fic by writing a story for them.

**Standard disclaimer for all my stories:** My stories are graphic, angsty, frustrating, filled with cliffhangers, drama and foul language. Read at your own risk – medical issues and subsequent bills are not covered by yours truly ;) If you don't like, please don't read. I appreciate reviews and constructive feedback but if you cannot stand the plot, save yourself and me some time and walk away. You don't have to love all IM stories :)

Remember that most of my stories, including this one, are written for the **half-screen** option here at FF. You'll see fewer line/paragraph breaks if you set the screen to half-screen.

**Summary:** The last Makluan ring guardian made it clear that Pepper Potts was more worthy than Gene Khan to possess the power of the rings. What if she had no choice but to accept this truth as her fate?

Why do I do this to myself? I really need a break, and yet I get into two more fics! (BTW, The sequel to _30 Days_ is now up. It's titled: _24 Hours_). I don't own IMAA.

* * *

**BROKEN**

**Prologue**

"Tell me, Gene Khan: are you worthy of this power?" The protector of the 10th ring inquired.

"I AM worthy," Gene responded, not hesitating to fill his words with as much self-confidence and pride he could muster after such a revelation of his possession of the dragonseed. "And I'll do whatever I have to, to prove it."

"I do not think so," the Alien Guardian said immediately as he placed more strength on the fist that held the last ring of power. "I see much darkness in you."

"Tony, what are we going to do?" Pepper Potts, inside her new armor, asked Iron Man. The trio was standing by the entrance of the hole in the wall their previous encounter with Mandarin had created, slowly taking in the information the Alien Guardian was providing.

Tony stared at his friend from the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the conversation before them. "Hope that space lizard kicks Gene's armored butt. Gene, let it go! You can't defeat this guardian. He is _the_ guardian!"

"This is my destiny, Stark," Gene stole a quick glance to Iron Man over his shoulder before returning to face the Alien Guardian. "Of course I can."

Without further need to remain in his human form, Gene used the rings of power to return to his Mandarin armor form and wasted no time in attacking the Alien Guardian. The protector of the ring stopped Gene's attack with no problem, startling the hell out of Khan.

"Your ancestor was far more adept with the rings," the alien teased.

"He was nothing!" Gene retorted in anger before directing more attacks to the guardian, which again did not even scratch the opponent. "I don't believe it. YOU WILL FALL!"

With the anger and desperation that came from seeing the power of nine rings collapse upon the might of just one, Gene attacked with more effort than before. The result was the same, however, and the guardian blocked his attack without breaking a sweat.

"So much petulance. So much anger. You are not worthy of the ten rings."

"You _dare_ challenge my birthright?" Gene's anger was getting the best of him. He resorted to creating a tornado inside the already old and fragile Makluan Temple by using the power of the rings. The impact of the wind gusts reached the group of heroes, and while War Machine and Iron Man had a good grip on the ground, Pepper's armor was more lightweight than theirs to accommodate the girl's obvious limitation in strength. Tony Stark panicked for a short moment when his always-calculating mind realized this fact, his helmet twisting to the side to address the girl. "Pepper, hold on to me!"

The Alien Guardian wanted nothing to do with the twister, prompting him to use the force of the winds to relocate his form to another place in the temple.

"The Makluan ring will be mine." Mandarin asserted. "You will not stop me, Alien." In an instant, Mandarin released enough energy to stop the trajectory of the Guardian, sending him to slam into the wall before hitting the ground with a loud thud. Gene was pleased with what he saw.

"You _can_ be harmed."

Mandarin continued his attack on the protector, putting everything he had into his next attack which the guardian received with full force, making the bystanders cringe.

"Tony, we can't let Gene win." Pepper said, placing an armored hand on his shoulder. "If he gets all ten rings…"

"No, you're right, Pepper," Iron Man said before calling upon his male counterpart. "Rhodey?"

"Yeah, let's do this." War Machine was ready to rock and roll.

As the alien hit the wall after Mandarin's last attack, Gene continued to verbally justify his right to the ring that was still being withheld from him. "Even you said this power is my birthright. You cannot deny me what is rightfully mine. Don't you understand? I'm going to bring order to the chaos of this world. You have to believe me."

"Oh, I think he believes you, Gene." The sarcastic remark the only warning Iron Man gave the turning Mandarin before all three of the iron heroes released an attack from their unibeams. The surprise attack actually managed to hit the Mandarin, sending him crashing onto the ground.

The deed was not lost to the Alien, who by now was standing from his spot on the floor, shocked at the action taken by the trio of teens. "You…assisted me."

"Yeah, well, enemy of my enemy and all that," Tony responded in an attempt to justify their gesture, but his words were interrupted when he felt as if his mind had been hit by a ton of bricks. The Alien Guardian did not require words to find the true intentions of the teenagers –or anyone for that matter. All he needed was to read their minds.

"AAH! He's inside my head!"

"Mine, too," Rhodey screamed.

"_You_ would be _far_ more worthy than Gene Khan to wield the rings." The Alien stated once he had finished taking the information he needed from the heroes. The statement made Iron Man chuckle nervously.

"Uh, thanks, sir, but, uh, I'm just fine without any alien DNA. No offense."

"None taken, as I was not referring to you, but to the female human."

"AH! See? Not everything is about the _oh, so wonderful_ Tony Sta- Wait, what? Me?" She pointed a finger to her chest.

"AAH!" The screams of the now paralyzed War Machine and Iron Man was the response to Pepper's question. However, the offensive move had come from Mandarin instead.

"You are all fools if you think you can keep me from my legacy. FOOLS!"

"Pepper, stealth mode, now!" A struggling Tony Stark ordered his new recruit. Potts immediately responded by activating the handy feature and avoided a direct attack from the Mandarin. Gene, however, was not deterred.

"Fine, _you're_ the one I want, anyway," he pointed to the Alien Guardian before a purple beam hit his hand. "AAH!"

A second attack hit his back, and Gene turned around to find the perpetrator, knowing damn well who it was. "You think you can rescue your friends, but you're wrong."

Gene released another large attack but it missed Pepper by a long shot. "You're not strong enough to defeat me."

"Oh, I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far." Pepper jested. Her taunting, however, ended when Gene found her in the air.

"AAH! How?"

"How did I find you? The rings are more powerful than you realize. That and you never stop talking!" Gene held Pepper by her arm before ferociously swinging her towards the wall.

"Pepper!" A desperate Iron Man yelled from his location on the ground. The impact was never felt by the manhandled Potts, however, as the Alien Protector cushioned the blow with his own body.

"Thank you," Pepper sighed, looking up at her savior. When she noticed his grip on her was fierce, a moment of panicked befell her. "Uh, I think I can manage now. So, if you can just let me go I can get back to minding my own business…"

"I am afraid that is not possible, female."

"Name's Pepper," she offered.

"Gene Khan must be devoid of the power of the rings he is not worthy of, and you are going to help me."

"Is that a suggestion or…?" She scratched her helmet.

"A mandate." The alien responded before a bright light illuminated the room. When everything was said and done, the lizard-like guardian was nowhere to be found, and neither was Pepper.

The three youngsters in the room stared at one another and then at the place where the guardian had once stood. The paralysis was now fading away and both War Machine and Iron Man pushed themselves from the ground. The first one to reach the dented wall was Tony, placing a metal hand on it and tapping it as if it would suddenly speak to him the answers he sought.

"Pepper? Pepper!"

"Damn!" Gene muttered. "He's gone! And he took the ring with him!"

"The RING?" Tony spat. "Are you seriously thinking about the ring?! He took Pepper!"

"Do not blame me for your shortcomings, Stark. If he took her, it is all on you. You're the one who brought her here. You're the one that put her in danger."

"That's not…I…" Tony closed his eyes. "I didn't mean to…she just…Pepper…"

A second blinding light announced the departure of the Mandarin, but neither Rhodey nor Tony attempted to stop him. Their thoughts were devoted to the bubbly redhead that had been taken away from their lives, perhaps forever.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeaaahhh…so this is mostly a recap of the third to the last episode of the second season of the series. Everything after that will remain more or less the same with the exception of Pepper's part in the final battle against the Makluan. Hope you're interested in the rest!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The humming of the machine under his face woke him up, but he lacked the will to lift his head just yet. He could already feel the skin on his cheek resembled the shapes of the knobs he had fallen asleep on, but he had at least not drooled on the controls this time around. After staring into nothingness for a minute he finally sat straight and it was then that his body complained about the position he had passed out in last night.

He moaned as he stretched his limbs and back to pop some of the kinks he had acquired overnight, and when he lifted his arms above his head he realized he was due for a shower…among other things. His hand then touched his face and evidence of the need for a shave was imminent. The prickly hairs sticking out of his pores that always grew out of control when he was too engrossed in his work only served to remind him that _she_ had never liked him with facial hair.

_Pepper._

His eyes moved up to stare at the radar on the uppermost right corner of the screen. As everything single time he had seen it since his last battle with Gene and the Alien Guardian, the radar had nothing new to report. Tony covered his face with his hands and rubbed it vigorously. Was this his reward for helping save the world from an invading alien species? Why was it that everyone else involved had not lost the person closest to them but him?

Then again, his sentiment was not entirely fair or accurate; Rhodey had also lost Pepper and so had Pepper's dad. Rhodey had known her longer than Tony had, and Pepper's dad...

_He hates me_, he thought, leaving his feelings of guilt out of the complex equation for now. The world had not found out the true identity of Iron Man and his team, but Pepper's father and Rhodey's mom had found out about it when Tony had walked up to them after the battle to confess that Pepper was gone. The look on Pepper's father's face would haunt him for the rest of his life, but not as much as the image of seeing Pepper for the last time, being taken away from the life she knew while he just laid there and did nothing. It took three weeks for the bruise in the shape of Virgil Potts' fist to disappear from Tony's face, and Tony was certain he would have taken more hits from the man without defending himself had Roberta not stopped the angry father from jumping Tony.

Nonetheless, after only three months of searching for her, Rhodey had gone off to the Air Force Academy, just as he had said he would. Virgil Potts had gone as far as having a memorial service for Pepper, claiming that if by this point she had not been found, she would never be. Needless to say, Tony did not attend the service and instead spent the night in his Iron Man suit, blowing up abandoned buildings wherever he found them on his trek around the world.

After the memorial service – which had happened a month ago – everyone else appeared to have moved on. Tony, however, had postponed his enrollment into MIT despite his father's protests, and today – exactly six months after the guardian had taken Pepper to who-knew-where, Iron Man found himself mostly alone, living in the Makluan-Temple-turned-laboratory-turned-apartment, living off the money of his own start-up company.

It was not as if his father had taken away his inheritance, but the more Tony continued his incessant search for his friend, the more Howard Stark had meddled in his son's life. Everyone told him – even the almost always clueless Happy Hogan – that pushing himself to the verge of exhaustion was not going to bring Pepper back any sooner or at all. Tony refused to listen, to believe, that if he did not work his hardest, Pepper would be more quickly returned to them.

_To me_, he thought. How people expected him to just move on with his life after what had occurred was beyond him. Even today he was not sure how he had managed to stay on-task during the final battle with the Makluan army, but he had somehow endured the ordeal regardless of the pain in his heart. Gene's words had already woken him up one too many times during his restless nights, mocking him and his ability to place those he cared the most in danger.

_"Do not blame me for your shortcomings, Stark. If he took her, it is all on you. You're the one who brought her here."_ Khan had told him.

God, he hated it when Gene Khan was right!

He slammed his palms on the machines and stood up. He turned on his heels and made his way toward the shower he had installed just a little over a month ago, taking off his shirt and tossing it haphazardly on the floor. Five minutes later he was out, fully clothed in clean jeans and a t-shirt, and back at staring at his screens.

_I can't believe Gene just gave up on the last ring_, Tony mused as he reviewed the last thirty days of Makluan energy signals. _He is the key to finding Pepper, and now he decides to not use the rings at all._

Tony was not sure what the Alien Guardian had planned to do to stop Gene with Pepper's help, but he doubted it was pretty or without risk. Pepper was not accustomed to being the damsel in distress as she had pointed out to them on several occasions, but that did not mean she was ready for a fight against Gene. Even the Guardian was having trouble in the end to stand his ground against the Mandarin, and Tony shuddered to think the lengths the protector would go to assure Gene was no longer in possession of the rings of power.

He stared at his watch and realized it was near noon; he had slept the morning away. His stomach was asking for sustenance, and it was now he remembered that he was yet to stock up his fridge with food. With a swift move of his arm over the floating screens he brought up the list of fast food places he frequented. He picked one at random and pressed the speed dial button for the restaurant.

_ "Jojo's Pizzeria. May I take your order?"_

"Hey, it's Tony Stark."

_"Hello, Mr. Stark. The usual, I assume?"_

"Yup."

_"It will be ready in 20 minutes. Are you going to come pick it up again? You know we deliver free of charge." _

"Yeah, I know, but I'd rather stop by."

_"Alright, Mr. Stark. See you soon!"_

The call ended and Tony sighed. He stood up and walked toward the exit of the lab. He picked up the keys to his new car on the way out. The drive to the pizza place would not take long, but he decided to take the scenic route today; it was not as if he had anywhere else to go or anyone to meet.

xxxXXXxxx

And hour later he returned home –or what his home was: the lab. In one hand he held the box of pizza, and in the other a six pack of sodas. The automatic door opened immediately as soon as it detected the incoming individual, before closing behind Tony with an almost inaudible swoosh.

"Honey, I'm home," Tony uttered without much enthusiasm to the emptiness of his lab.

"Welcome home, Mr. Stark," his computer responded in its robotic tone. He placed the pizza box and the sodas on the closest table, dragged a chair and dropped his body into it. He opened the box and turned it around so that the cover served as an impromptu plate. He grabbed one of the slices and placed it on the cardboard so that his hands were free to unscrew the cap of one of the soda bottles, and then grabbed the slice once again.

"I hope this is not what you eat every day, Anthony."

The slice of pizza that had almost touched Tony's lips was dropped back on the cardboard/plate, splattering the melting cheese all over the place. Tony grabbed a paper towel and cleaned his hands from the grease. "I hope this is not all you stopped by to tell me, Dad."

From the living area of the laboratory appeared Howard Stark, dressed in his always impeccable attire. He took slow steps toward the table where Tony sat, silently noting the disarrayed look of the teenager. "No, I just came to check if you were still alive. I haven't seen you in two weeks, son."

"Yeah, well. I've been busy."

"So it would seem."

Tony looked up to stare at his father, and then looked down to the now suddenly not-as-tasty looking food. "Why are you here?"

Howard shrugged lightly as he walked to the computer monitors, which were hard at work tracking even the slightest hint of Makluan energy. A quick scan of the reports Tony had left on the screen showed the nonexistent progress the boy had made in finding the whereabouts of Gene, the Alien Guardian or his friend Pepper Potts.

"You are hairier than I was at your age. Gonna shave any time soon?"

This was as much as Tony was going to take today. He stood up from his chair and walked up to his father, blocking from him the images he was reviewing on the computers with snap of his fingers. At the boy's command, the screens disappeared, allowing Howard to return his attention to his son. "That was not really necessary, now, was it?"

"YES. Yes, it was. Are you here to lecture me or just to tell me how shitty I look?"

"If I say both, would it make me sound ambitious?" The father jested in an attempt to calm his son's rising anger.

"I wouldn't expect anything less, _Dad_. Leave it to you to just keep on reaching." Tony responded, emphasizing the title of his father in a way that was meant to insult him.

"Well, that's not really fair…"

"Isn't it fair? You want to talk about fair?"

"Tony, you're blowing this out of proportion."

"No, I'm not! You think you can talk to me about fairness? Is it fair that you, Rhodey and everyone else just goes back to their merry lives when Pepper is going through _who-knows-what_ in _who-knows-where_?"

"Son, we don't even know if she's alive."

"SHE IS!"

"Well, if she is, do you think she'll want to come back to see you like this?"

The retort that had been forming in Tony's lips died with his father's words. The shocked and almost submissive look on the young man's face told Howard his question had struck a chord within his son. Howard was no fool or blind to the obvious feelings his son harbored for the spunky, fiery redhead; however, whether these feelings were of strong friendship, guilt or actual love, he was not sure.

Tony's shoulders slouched, his entire posture that had been rigid in anger just seconds ago collapsed. The distant look in his eyes pained Howard, but someone had to start shaking Tony back to reality: a reality where Pepper Potts was no more. When Tony did not move from where he stood and barely made a sound, Howard walked up closer to him; his hand on Tony's shoulder the only thing that seemed to snap Tony out of his reverie.

"Tony, son, I know it's hard to lose someone you care for. When I lost your mother…well, it may not be the same situation between you and Pepper, but a loss is a loss. I understand how you feel."

The young man could feel tears forming, but he refused to cry them in front of his father. He shut his eyes tightly and pulled away from Howard's touch. Tony walked away from where his father's eyes scrutinized him for signs of understanding, opting to abandon him and the food for the quietness and loneliness of his room. The locking mechanism kicked in as soon as Tony went inside his living quarters, leaving behind an even more concerned Howard Stark in its wake.

xxxXXXxxx

The weatherman had predicted a light chance of rain, but as expected with Mother Nature, the actual result bordered on a Category 1 storm. The wind was howling so loud against the reinforced Makluan temple that Tony had never been more grateful for taking the time to upgrade the ancient structure to withstand the rough use it endured on a daily basis. The power in the building had already failed an hour ago, but thanks to his backup generators Tony had at least one more week of power inside the building –which was plenty of time for the electric company to restore the service after the sudden storm.

The young genius was now back to the main room of his lab, eating the cold pizza straight from the box and washing it down with warm soda. The food should have been hot and the drink should have been cold; the irony not lost to the billionaire. He could have easily heated up and chilled them both in an instant by using one of his latest inventions, but he felt too lazy to even bother taking the extra ten steps to the kitchen. He would probably finish the pizza tonight anyway, and the rest of the drinks could go in the fridge in the morrow.

With a swipe of his hand a Doppler radar image of the current weather appeared before him. The storm was only halfway done with the city, and according to his calculations, he still had at least an hour of pouring rain, thunder, lightning and…

"Hail," he mumbled when he picked up on the distinct sound, which matched the latest severe weather warning that was just now popping up on the screen. Tony sighed loudly as he stood up from the chair, wondering how much damage his roof antennas would have in the morning, and stretching his arms high above his head. He then let his arms fall to his sides at the same time a loud rumble was heard from the entrance of the building, causing the teenager to look over his shoulder and narrow his eyes toward the door.

"Damn, this is getting bad. I wonder if it looks bad, too."

Taking his chance with the extreme weather, and having nothing better to do, Tony began walking toward the gate. The multiple doors opened one by one as he neared the final exit of the lab. The closer he came to the last entrance, the louder the sounds of the outside roared, leaving Tony wondering if he should have put on his suit of armor first.

As he stood before the final door, three loud bangs caught his attention. He expected the hail to hit the building with a high force, but he did not expect the noise to resemble that of a knock. Tony placed his left ear on the metal door and rested his palms on the sides of his head. He held his breath for a few seconds until the three consecutive knocks were heard once more.

"What the hell? Did my Dad come back?"

The security camera was of no use to him right now with the intensity of the storm, and he made a quick mental note to add infrared or even x-ray visions to it. His right hand flew to the keypad to press in the override code of the lockdown he had forced himself to be in after his father left, fearing he would return twice in one day to scold him. The double-beep of the keypad told Tony the door was now unlocked, and the man immediately stepped out to the mercy of the storm.

"Who's there?" He placed his left hand on his forehead and over his eyes, and squinted them as hard as he could to try to see in the rain. The night was pitch dark, and the water hitting his eyeballs made him close his lids before he could really tell what was in front of him. When a bolt of lightning hit the ground unnervingly close to him, he decided he had had enough adventure for the day and took a step back into the protection of the room. As he turned on his heels he felt a cold grasp on his left foot, startling him half to death and provoking him to kick away whoever or whatever had ahold of him.

"What the hell? Get off me!" He tried to pull himself away from the vice grip but it was relentless, causing Tony to stumble on his feet and fall hard onto the floor. His breath hitched as he turned around to face his attacker who still had him by the foot. The form came into the light of the lab entrance and it was only then that Tony stopped his squirming.

Before him on the floor was a woman on all fours, holding onto his ankle as if her life depended on it. The long hair covering her face in conjunction with how soaked she was reminded Tony of that movie where the characters –after watching a cursed video – were visited and killed by a woman that looked very similar to the one in front of him. The female movie killer, however, had black, unkept hair. This particular one had red hair, and did not look as if she had been hanging around inside a well for many years: pruny, purple and gross.

"T-Tony," the raspy voice of the woman surprised him, but did not deter him from leaning closer to her. She had finally let go of his foot and seemed more concerned in finding her voice than in taking him back to her scary well.

"T-To-ny…help…me…"

Tony scrambled to his feet and kneeled in front of the woman. When an even louder and brighter duo of thunder and lightning made her visibly flinch, the genius grabbed the girl from under her arms and pulled him towards her before ordering his computer to close and lock the door behind them. The hiss of the metal door hitting the steel frame was the only noise in the room for five, long seconds.

The girl in Tony's arms was cold as ice, her teeth chattering as hard as her body trembled in his grip. Stark's reaction to her obvious discomfort was to embrace her tighter, shifting her body so that she was surrounded by his arms, chest and legs. When the girl did not attempt to push him away and instead pressed herself closer to him, Tony's left hand moved to her head, pulling away her hair on her face to reveal a pale-looking, freckled girl.

_His_ freckled girl.

"Pepper?"

A sigh of relief was the only response she gave him before she went limp in his arms. Tony stared back at the now closed door with wide eyes before he returned his gaze to the gem in his arms. He hugged her even tighter than before as if to convince himself she was truly there, and rested his chin on the top of her head. He hyperventilated the shock out of himself before slightly pulling away from her once more, her words echoing in his mind.

"_T-To-ny…help…me…"_

And help he was going to provide.

* * *

**A/N:** Pretty predictable, I know, but it's still fun. Who wants to find out what happened to Pepper while she was gone? Read on, and don't forget to drop me a line.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The first thing he noticed after picking her from the floor was how much lighter she felt in his arms. She had always been rather skinny, and despite her attempts at getting on a diet – which were always unneeded and immediately followed by food binging – she hardly ever lost or gained a pound in the time he had known her. The thought of Pepper Potts losing weight she did not have worried him, and so did the fact that she was bleeding from the side of her head.

"Dammit! How did she…?"

He picked up his pace to the bathroom, cleverly avoiding the mess on his floors, and making sure he did not end up bumping her head on anything. Once he reached the room in question, he laid her down on the floor, her back resting against the wall. He crouched in front of her to examine her head injury, but it turned out to be just a rather small cut caused by the hail outside. He picked off the remains of the ice in her tresses as he made sure there were no other cuts on her scalp. Satisfied that the injury was minor, he then ran toward the large, standup shower and opened the water faucet. He then moved his attention to the small screen on the wall near the shower stall, and he typed in the desired temperature of the water.

While the automated shower combined the hot and cold water to spray the lukewarm liquid onto the tiled floor, Tony returned to Pepper and began taking off her shoes and socks. She was wearing the same clothes she had worn the day she had disappeared, but they were visibly worn; holes and rips were noticeable to the eye. After her feet were free of the soaked items, his hands flew to the bottom of her shirt but hesitated when he realized what he was about to do. The purplish color of her mouth and fingernails signifying how cold she was were the last push he needed to shake away his doubts, and he began undressing her until she was left in only her undergarments.

_It's an emergency, Stark; she's cold and she asked you for help. It's like if she were wearing a swimsuit, nothing more._ He repeated the thought over and over again, convincing himself that there was nothing lewd about his actions as he took off his pants and t-shirt as well before he picked her up from the floor and took her with him to the shower. The steam had already fogged up the glass walls, but Tony knew this place like the back of his hand. He carefully walked inside the stall, closed the door behind him, and sat on the floor, under the wide water stream.

He shifted Pepper so that she sat sideways in between his crossed legs. He held her in place by resting his left hand on her hip, and his right arm surrounded her back. Her head was bent forward but the side of it rested against his chest. The warm water hit them both, relaxing their muscles and helping Pepper regain a normal body temperature in no time. Tony was not sure how long he sat there with Pepper in his arms, feeling her breathe in an out, proving to him that she was in fact back. The inevitable questions that invaded his mind were there and they demanded to be answered this very instant, but his heart was louder than his brain, telling it to shove it and be grateful that Pepper was back.

Finally, Tony picked up himself and Pepper from the floor. He maneuvered her weight in his arms to shut off the shower, and once he accomplished the task, he carefully got them both out of the compartment. He placed her feet on the floor and surrounded her waist with one of his arms as the other one reached over to grab a towel. It was difficult to try and dry her with one hand, so he tried to pick her up once more to take her to his bed, but stopped in his tracks when Pepper's eyes fluttered open and stared up at him.

"Tony?"

She held her weight by clasping his shoulders with as much force as she could, and Tony steadied her by placing both hands on her waist. "Can you stand, Pepper? I need to dry you."

Pepper nodded but was not sure what she was agreeing to until she felt the warm towel surround her. She clutched onto the edges of the towel and brought it closer to herself as Tony grabbed a smaller one and carefully dried her hair and face as much as he could. He then took a quick second to use the same small towel to dry his own face and hair before throwing it on the floor away from them.

He placed his hands on hers where she held onto the towel, which caused Pepper to look up at him. His eyes stared down at her weary eyes, silently asking her for permission to touch her now that she was partially aware of what was happening between them. She again nodded to him and he was quick to pat her dry as thoroughly as possible, not allowing his hands to roam more than necessary. Once she was mostly dried up, he helped her walk toward the closed toilet and sat her there.

"I'm gonna go get you some dry clothes. I only have guy stuff, though. Is that OK?"

"Yes," she whispered to him. With her approval, Tony ran out of the bathroom and headed straight to his closet. He grabbed the tiniest t-shirt he owned and the smallest pair of sweatpants before returning to Pepper. Her eyes were open and aiming at the floor, but the depth in them told Tony her mind was far away from where her body was. She did not look scared or sad; she just looked to be in shock.

"Here," he handed her the items. "I don't have anything for…under them," he said, avoiding saying the actual names of the undergarments; Pepper finding out that he had stripped her and sat with her in a shower was already embarrassing enough for one day.

"It's OK," she assured him, grabbed the clothes and looked away. It took Tony two seconds to get her silent cue, and he cleared his throat.

"I, uhm, will be outside. Call me if you need…uh, help." He walked toward the rack on the wall, grabbed a dry towel for himself, and disappeared behind the closed door. Once inside his room, he dried and dressed himself in a fresh pair of boxers, t-shirt and pants, and just in time to see Pepper come out of the bathroom in her borrowed clothes.

The shock of seeing her again after six months was finally wearing off as he approached her and met her halfway into her trek into the room. He cupped her face with both of his hands and forced her to look up at him, worry and confusion marring his face. "Pepper, are you OK? Are you hurt anywhere? What can I do for you, tell me?"

Pepper closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and staring up at his blue eyes. Her hands grabbed onto the sides of his shirt and he responded by walking closer to her. They were both silent for a minute, the sounds of the storm outside and their breathing the only noise in the room. Pepper eventually closed her eyes again, and rested her forehead on his chest.

"Sleep. Tired."

"Right," Tony said, already walking in reverse without letting go of her. When the back of his legs felt the edge of the bed he reluctantly let go of her, turned around and pulled down the blankets. He then took a step back and helped her get in the bed, immediately wrapping her with the thick covers.

"Are you still cold? Do you want another blanket?"

"No," she whispered, bringing the covers closer to her body. She could smell his scent all over them, and the simple gesture made her feel a million times safer already. Tony placed his hand on her forehead just to make sure she was not developing a fever, and when he was about to pull it off she grabbed onto it, her eyes still closed.

"Stay, just for tonight," she pleaded him, and he did not even think about denying her what she wanted. He walked around the bed and lay on top of the covers next to her. "No, here," she said as she lifted the covers, inviting him to join her. He again immediately complied despite how awkward he felt, and as soon as she felt him slide next to her she exhaled deeply.

"Thank you, Tony."

"No problem, Pepper."

Shortly after the words escaped his mouth, the sound of her light snoring lured him into a much needed, deep sleep.

xxxXXXxxx

When he opened his eyes, the first thing that came to his mind was that he felt extremely well-rested. He could not think of the last time he had slept for at least 8 hours, and not due to a long night in the armored suit. He contentedly sighed away the vestiges of his groggy self, and it was then he remembered the events of the night before. His face snapped to his side, and his eyes widened when he realized he was in bed _alone_.

_Pepper_, the thought did not make it to his lips, but he still jumped off the bed and rushed to the bathroom. There were no signs of Pepper ever being there, her clothes on the floor were gone, and the towels in the rack were dry and folded just as before he had used them on her. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his temples as he ran out of the bathroom and into the main room of his makeshift home.

"What the hell?"

His eyes were suddenly overwhelmed by the scene in front of him. His lab looked nothing like it had looked last night. The place was…_spotless_; shiny, even. There were no dirty clothes on the floor, no water puddles by the entrance, no half-eaten pizza on the table, and – most importantly – no sign of Pepper at all.

At least until he heard a grunt coming from the kitchen.

"Pepper?" He ran toward the entrance of his small kitchen room to see Pepper, still dressed in his clothes, dragging a huge trash bag to the compactor he had installed months ago. Seeing her again made the young man freeze where he stood, the memories of last night coming back to him once more, before he shook his head and found his voice. "Pep, _what _the _hell_ are you doing?"

The redhead sighed loudly, dropped the heavy bag onto the floor, looked up to stare at her friend, and pointed a slim finger towards the refrigerator. "Tony Stark! Are you _aware_ that _half _of the stuff in that fridge of yours has already _expired_?"

"Pepper Potts," he responded with the same tone she had just scolded him, and pointed his own finger at her. "Are _you_ aware that you were gone for _six_ months? _Why_ are you cleaning my place?"

"Well, somebody should! This place _stinks_!"

"Uhm…well…I…" Tony closed his mouth and took a moment to stare at her; _really_ stare at her. The color on her face had finally returned, and she had brushed her now shoulder-length, layered hair, giving her a different look that Tony did not disapprove off at all. She had one hand on her hip and the other pinched the bridge of her nose in a way she did when Tony was being –as she called it, unreasonable. Last night he had held her fragile form in his arms, but she had been more out of it than usual and in need of his aid, so he had overridden his initial reaction and had concentrated on helping her. This moment, this encounter in the kitchen, however, was far more real than when he had embraced her shivering body in the shower, and he knew his emotions were on the verge of coming to the surface.

The redhead groaned and shook her head at him, readying herself to pick up the sack of trash once more, but her arms never made it to the plastic bag. Instead, they were crushed on her sides when Tony cut the distance between them and hugged her with all the strength he could put on her without crushing her frame. The Extremis virus that coursed through his veins and its enhancements on his body were always in the back of his mind, reminding him that even the slightest amount of uncontrolled force on his part could send someone to the hospital with a broken bone.

"Pepper, _where _were you? I've been looking for you every day. It's like you just…_disappeared_ from the face of the planet." He whispered in her ear.

His choked-up words defused the small amount of anger she had welled up toward his blatant show that he had not been taking care of himself in her absence. She returned the hold with as much force as he, and both of them slowly and unconsciously adjusted their positions so that it was not an awkwardly-angled embrace anymore.

"That's because I did, Tony. The Alien Guardian took me off the planet for a while when he…_kidnapped_ me; and whenever we weren't chasing after Gene, we spent most of the time in some reality I know was not on Earth." Tony did not notice the slight crack in her voice. She was trying very hard to contain her emotions; she did not want Tony to know what the Makluan and Gene had put her through.

"That sick, son of a bitch! Where is he now? I swear the next time I see him, Pepper, I will…"

Pepper could feel the anger rising inside of Tony, so she pulled away a few inches from him, just enough to stare at his face. As she had expected, his brows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched, the initial signs that Tony was burning someone's name on his mental hit list. Pepper raised her arms from under his grip and held his face in between her hands. She brushed the skin over his cheekbones with her thumbs, and gave him a small smile.

"You don't have to worry about him. He's gone. Gene…he killed him."

"Gene?" Tony's eyebrows rose. "Gene killed the Alien Guardian?"

"Yes, and…" Her eyes looked down.

"What? What is it Pepper? Did he hurt you?"

Pepper shook her head, lying. "No, but…Gene…he's dead, too. Well, at least I think they both are. They fought so long, and so hard…I don't think anyone could have survived that blast."

"Blast?" Tony's grip on her tightened; the thought that Pepper could have been blown up and not be here with him ever again scared him more than he cared to admit. "How did you make it out if there was a blast?"

Pepper could not hold it together any longer. She had woken up today, confused but relieved, and the anxiety within her had left her with no choice but to move. The typical mess in Tony's lab had been the perfect way to release some of the stress and fear she carried with her; stress and fear she knew would not go away for a long time. She pulled herself toward Tony, hugging him desperately as the tears began running down her eyes. Tony feared the worst, and Pepper's next words confirmed his suspicions.

"Oh, Tony! Gene saved me! He sent me away before the blast hit me. He sent me back here."

"Back to the armory?"

"No," she sniffed. "Back to the Tomorrow Academy. It was at night, so no one was there, so I walked home, but my dad…he doesn't live there anymore. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I came here."

"Yeah, your dad, he transferred to the West Coast after your funeral."

At Tony's words, Pepper stiffened. She again pulled back from him, her face an open book of the shock she felt. "My…my dad…transferred? My…_funeral_? My dad thinks I'm DEAD?"

"Now, calm down, Pepper."

"Calm DOWN? CALM DOWN?" She pulled away completely from him, her hands flying to her head in disbelief. "I…I can't believe that…oh, NUTS! My dad! He's gonna…he's gonna…" she turned around to give her back to Tony, suddenly feeling cramped in his embrace and needing some space of her own. She took a step forward, but instead of her foot connecting with the solid floor, her attempt at moving was blocked by the trash bag she had completely forgotten about, spiraling her into a free fall toward the floor.

Or, at least she would have actually hit the floor if Tony had not caught her from behind. "Easy, Pepper. It's going to be alright. Just, calm down, OK?"

His strong yet gentle arms made her crave his touch again. She pressed her back against his chest, and she covered her face with her hands. She took in deep breaths until she felt herself relax. "OK. Alright. You're right. Maybe finding out that I'm alive won't give my dad a heart attack."

"If it does, I can make him an arc reactor."

Pepper turned around, stood on her toes to press her face near Tony's and narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Are you freakin' kidding me, Stark? That's not funny! I mean, it _would_ be totally cool and all, but NOT funny! My dad is all I have!"

"I'm sorry, Pepper," he whispered in a true apologetic tone. "It wasn't funny; no. And, well, you know…you're wrong."

"Wrong? What the…? Is that ugly facial hair getting to your brain? When was the last time you shaved, anyway? I've told you it doesn't look good on you. And, what do you mean I'm wrong?"

Tony's hand flew to his face, feeling the prickliness of the hair she was referring to as his mind readjusted to Pepper's speech patterns of multiple and consecutive inquiries at the speed of light. She was right; the hair was too long, even for his taste. He made a note to shave today if that would make her happy with him again, before he spoke. "I meant…you also have me…"He opted to answer only her last question, which caused the young woman's eyes to widen in shock.

"Uh…Tony…"

"And Rhodey!" He amended his statement when he realized what he had said. It was not as if he had just lied to her, but he knew he probably sounded desperate or vulnerable: two things he did not want her to see on him. "Me and Rhodey; you have us both."

Pepper chuckled and looked down; classical Stark and his feelings: sticking his foot in his mouth and resorting to getting a peg leg to solve the problem. "Yes, I know. Thank you, for last night. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't been here. My entrance code wasn't working. I was lucky that you weren't off on a mission or something else."

Tony swallowed hard, eating up the words he really wanted to say to her; he also feared, deeply, what would have happened to her if he had not been around –or what would have happened to himself if she had not returned when she did. He resorted to just nodding to her before he pushed her away from him and toward the side of the galley-type kitchen. "It was no problem at all, Pepper. You know that. Now, let me help you with this bag."

"Thanks," she made her way out of the kitchen and toward the main lab. Seconds later, Tony followed her out and they both stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Pep, are you hungry?"

Pepper gave him the first wide smile since she had knocked on his door. "Starving."

He returned the smile before he walked over to his wallet and keys. He still had questions about what had occurred to her during the last six months, and her vague tale of what had transpired had not placated his worries, but for now he was just thrilled to have her back, and maybe –just maybe, he would gather up the courage to tell her all those things he had every night uttered to the nothingness in his lonely room since she had been taken away from him.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm really trying to not make this fic complicated as all my others, but it is SO hard! I'm all for complex plots, but I will try to restrain myself –no promises, though. Well, if you enjoyed, please review. See you in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The clothing store's attendant's initial demeaning attitude had changed in an instant when she had recognized that the identity one of the two customers whom had just walked inside the premises was none other than Tony Stark. The casual clothes and shady beard had prevented the poor woman from recognizing the young billionaire, CEO of Stark Solutions – a division of Stark International. The physical appearance of his female companion was not any better than his, and the attendant had been quick to assume that neither of them could afford the least expensive pair of earrings in the establishment.

Now, however, nearly two hours after Pepper and Tony had first walked inside the store to buy Pepper new clothes, the attendant was short of dropping herself on the floor to serve as a human mat to Pepper's constant visits to the fitting rooms. Tony, on the other hand, sat in a chair near the dressing rooms, forearms on his knees, and head resting on his hands, watching intently as the clerk brought any and all items Pepper asked for while inside the dressing room.

"Would you like to try another size, Miss Potts?" The attendant asked as she stood by the closed door of the stall. "I think I may have an extra small size available for this dress."

"No, thank you. I should grow into it, soon. I'm usually not this skinny."

"Are you certain? You can always come back and exchange it."

"No, it's alright. Thanks. Here," Pepper handed her a pair of shoes. "Mind bringing these over in red?"

"Absolutely."

Tony's eyes followed the attendant as she walked to the back of the store, presumably to get the color Pepper wanted for her brand new shoes. The last time he had been dragged into one of Pepper's shoe-shopping sprees had been the day his future grandson had shown up to exterminate his ass to prevent Tony from making the worst mistake of his life: creating the Vortex virus.

_"I said: When did you become Whitney Stane?" An exasperated Tony asked Pepper immediately after she removed one box from his face so that she could hear his complaint clearly._

_ "How about you don't mention Whitney when you and I are on a date?"_

_ "A what? Uh, this is a date?" His eyes became saucers. He was not sure how he had not just dropped her boxes of shoes then and there._

_ "Well, we're taking the day off." She argued. "No computer talk. No armory. Just you and me."_

_ "That doesn't make it a date."_

_ "It's just a word. Relax. Come on, we still have a lot of shopping to do. Shoes! It's an addiction!"_

Despite his initial surprise at the use of the word _date_, Tony had kept his comments to himself and had continued walking behind her, at least until the explosion signifying the arrival of his grandson made itself heard. Today, many months after that particular incident, he wondered what would have happened between them that day if their _date_ had not been interrupted by Andros Stark.

_Probably what's going on right now: me sitting here while she buys the entire store. _His thoughts were interrupted when the chair next to him shook and Pepper sighed loudly after sitting in it.

"It feels good to have something clean to wear, again."

Tony looked at her up and down. She was wearing a white, knee-length, non-sleeved, V-neck dress with red flowers as pattern, and a cropped denim jacket. Pepper was not one to show off her legs or the curves of her body, but he could not blame her for putting on something that did not remind her of her time in captivity with the Makluan guardian. "You look nice, Pep," he smiled at her. "But now you make me look like a homeless bum."

"A homeless bum wouldn't drive a sports car," she pointed a thumb to the vehicle parked at the curb behind them. "So, I'm gonna say you're just a bum." She ended her statement with a smile to make sure he knew she was just being playful.

Tony chuckled. "Jeez, thanks, Pepper. But I think a bum wouldn't have deposited your paycheck in your bank account every month while you were gone," he responded, and he had meant it to be a joke, but when her eyes became downcast, he mentally kicked himself. "Wait, Pepper, that's not…what I meant…I…"

Pepper patted his knee with her left hand, and shook her head. "No, you're right. I'm sorry. You didn't have to keep paying me my salary. I guess I owe you a year's worth of free software testing and design, huh?"

Tony shook his head and placed his hand over hers, which she had not removed from his leg, to his surprise. "Nah! Let's just call it…worker's compensation. That's what it was, right?"

"More like hazard pay," she joked, but the look in her eyes did not change to match the humor in her voice. "I'll pay you back, Tony. I promise. I just need to…find myself again, first."

"You already did pay me back, Pepper," he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, his eyes fixed on her face. "I probably owe _you_, still."

"Miss Potts?" The attendant's voice startled the teens, and Tony let go of her hand. "You're in luck. This is our last red pair," the woman said as she crouched down in front of Pepper and fitted the shoes onto the redhead's feet. "But we also have them in burgundy."

Pepper eyed the flats on her feet, and wiggled the tips of them like a little girl. "I think I've gotten enough clothes to last me for the year. I'd like to checkout now." Pepper handed the debit card to the woman. The attendant took the card from Pepper and excused herself to close the transaction. The redhead stood up from the chair and patted her dress to remove the cresses that were already forming from sitting down. Tony eyed her silently for a moment until the sales clerk returned with Pepper's card.

"Thank you for your purchase today, Miss Potts. We hope to see you here for the winter line release."

Pepper just smiled at the woman; she was not accustomed to buying expensive clothes, and she probably would not return to the place ever again, but this had been the most decent store on the way back to armory from the restaurant Tony had taken her to, and she had desperately needed a change of clothes that did not include borrowing from Tony's repertoire again.

_Tony._

As if on cue, Tony stood up from the chair and took out the car keys from his pants' pocket, pressed the unlock button in the electronic keychain, and a second later the trunk opened up. "Guess I should start dragging these bags and boxes to the car."

"I'll help you," Pepper said. After a few minutes of carrying Pepper's new wardrobe, everything was loaded in the trunk and both teenagers got inside the car. The ride back to the armory was quiet save for the radio station playing a variety of current hit songs, and mostly uneventful save for the moment when Tony intertwined his hand in Pepper's, gave it a light squeeze, and informed her she had been missed. His grip on her hand was not broken until they reached the basement entrance of the Makluan temple.

xxxXXXxxx

Tony stared at himself in the mirror, surprised to see his beardless face again. It was not as if he had grown it long enough to classify him as a yeti, but he could now see what Pepper had meant when she had asked him when had been the last time he had shaved.

_Maybe she meant to say she likes me more like this_,he dared to muse before shaking his head in self-disapproval; his emotions were best dwelled upon at a later time –a time when Pepper was not just recently arrived from another dimension. Pushing the the silly thoughts aside, he grabbed his aftershave bottle and sprinkled a few drops on his hands before rubbing them together and patting his face. He had just finished showering and was now dressed up in normal clothes, his _homeless bum_ look left behind. He gave himself a last look in the mirror before walking out of the bathroom and bedroom, and into the main lab where he had left Pepper about an hour ago.

Just as when he had gone off to refresh himself, Pepper was sitting in front of his laptop, typing furiously and flawlessly on the keyboard, her brows furrowed in deep concentration. He walked up to her and pulled a chair behind her, sat down in it and poked his head over her shoulder to see the screen. His sudden appearance made her gasp but she quickly recovered and continued her task. "Now you smell like a normal person, Tony."

"Ouch," he flinched in an exaggerated manner. "Thanks for the confidence boost, Potts."

"Anytime," she responded.

"So, what are you looking for?" He leaned in closer to her, his chin almost resting on her shoulder.

"My dad," she began. "I'm having a hard time finding out where he transferred."

"Can't hack into the FBI database? Are we losing our touch, Pep?"

Pepper scoffed. "As if! I'm starting to think he changed his name for some reason. His badge number has been disabled, and his record shows he is no longer active. But, I know my dad. He'd never just quit. Maybe he went undercover or something like that."

"I don't know, Pepper. He was pretty down when I told him…when he found out that…"

Pepper stopped typing and turned around to face Tony with a shock-ridden face. "Does he know about…me…and the suit? And, and…you?"

"If I say 'no,' would you believe me?"

All she could do was groan and shifted her body slightly to her right to face Tony's angled posture. "Great! He's never gonna let me put it on again. So much for Rescue."

"Rescue?" He furrowed his brow.

"Yeah! After I…_disappeared_, I was locked up for a long time; had a lot of time to think. The name just came to me and it stuck. Doesn't it sound cool? Rescue?"

Tony's eyes were glued to hers, and while her last bit had been meant to be encouraging, the only words Tony had clung onto had been _locked up_. The sorrow inside him was pouring out in waves through his facial expression, and while at first it had been somewhat endearing to Pepper that he was so worried about her time in confinement, she was getting tired of seeing what_ her_ captivity had done to _him_.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" He pulled himself closer to her face.

"Like you just rescued an abused dog from the pound on the day he was going to be put down; like that."

Tony closed his eyes. "That's not what I'm thinking about."

"Well," she began through clenched teeth. "That's how you're making me feel."

Tony opened his eyes once more and licked his dried lips. "I'm sorry, Pepper," he whispered as his eyes fixated on her lips. "I…I should've been faster…I should've jumped after you…"

Pepper's eyes – which until a second ago had been cold – began to sting. She was not ready to talk about it, but she knew Tony was as stubborn as she was; he was not going to let it go until he found out what he wanted to know. She did not pull away from his inches-away face, but her eyes darted to the side. "I hope this is not your way of telling me you feel responsible for this; for what happened to me, Tony."

"Why the fuck wouldn't I?" The expletive –which was rare coming from any of them – was what caught Pepper's attention the most, forcing her to face him again. "It was me who took you there," he gritted his teeth.

_We __**are**__ having this conversation after all, huh?_ She thought bitterly. "_You_ didn't take me anywhere. _I_ wanted to go."

"But, you wouldn't have gone if I hadn't built the suit."

"C'mon, Tony! I would've just put on another one of your suits, and you know it."

"I'd have sealed them off. I would've never let you go if I had known that…" He closed his eyes again but opened them immediately when he felt her left hand on his right cheek.

"And I wouldn't have let you and Rhodey go off to China alone. I would've found a way to hack into the suits. I designed your software, remember?"

Tony swallowed hard. If he ever thought of a response, he would never remember it after this moment. The only things his mind could concentrate on was the fact that she was so close to his face he could smell her mint-scented breath, the warm feel of her delicate skin on his cheek, and the loud pounding of his own heart inside his chest. The silence in the lab was uncommon for such a lively place, but what was not uncommon to either of them was the easiness with which they could forget everything around them when the other was near. Over two years had passed since Tony had met her for the first time up on the roof of NYTA during one of their free periods, and not a moment since then had he been able to remove the high-spirited girl from the back of his mind for one reason or the other.

"I missed you, Pepper." He whispered to her, this time avoiding the use of the word _we_, as he had done so earlier on their ride back to the armory.

His left hand, working on its own accord, found the side of her neck. His fingers curled around it and pulled her towards him. She allowed him to tilt her head, both of them slowly closing their eyes as the distance between them disappeared. Their lips brushed once, twice, but neither of them felt brave enough to press them closer together despite the feeling of a warm hand clutching around their hearts.

"TONY!"

The loud instance of his name pulled them apart in a flash. Pepper moved away from Tony and stared at the laptop screen without actually reading anything on it. Tony stood up from his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. Half a second later, Howard Stark appeared from the narrow entrance hall, his face contorted into one of pure anger.

"Anthony Stark! How could you've been so careless?!"

"What did I do now?" He asked in a bored tone, walking toward his father to meet him halfway into the lab, but not standing too close to him.

Howard's eyes darted from Tony's to Pepper's back, sighed loudly, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I didn't mean to barge in here like this. Are you alright?"

Pepper slowly stood up from her chair, turned around, walked toward Howard and nodded. "It's nice to see you, Mr. Stark. I didn't know you knew I was back."

As she stopped directly in front of him, the older man cupped her shoulders with his hands and gave her an honest smile. "Look at you! You look great! I'm happy you're back! Everyone was worried sick about you."

"You mean other than the ones who had already given her up for dead, right, Dad? And how do you even know she's back?" Tony pointed an accusatory finger at his father.

"Tony!" Pepper's head snapped to her side to stare at Tony standing a few feet behind her. Whatever else Tony was going to say to his father died on his lips with the look Pepper gave him, but his annoyed face did not go away.

"It's all over the news," Howard finally responded to their question. "Apparently some lady leaked pictures to the media and they're now all over the place."

"What?" Pepper spat. "What pictures? Of what?"

"Just turn on the T.V."

Tony walked to his monitors and brought up the first news channel his satellite picked up. As Howard had expected, the top news for the last hour had been the plethora of pictures taken with a cell phone of Tony and Pepper, and the news was still being broadcasted nonstop even now. The screen showed the blurry images of Tony and Pepper in the clothing store, Pepper trying different outfits, Tony and Pepper sitting next to each other in the chairs and holding hands, and a final image of them loading stuff into the trunk of his car. The caption of the picture reel read: _Pepper Potts alive? Did she fake her death to run off with billionaire Tony Stark?_

"They're joking, right?" Tony yelled, his finger pointed at the screen. "Who the hell approves these crackpot ideas to be shown on TV?"

"It's the media, son. This is what they do. You should know that by now. Now that you're 18, you're no longer off-limits. Anything you do or say will be scrutinized; and so will everyone around you," Howard finished his response by staring at Pepper. She was staring in shock at the screen before she covered her face with her hands.

Tony groaned in frustration and turned off the screen and walked toward Pepper. He stood in front her, grabbed her wrists with his hands, and tried to pry her hands from her face but she kept them firmly in place. "Whoa, Pep." He bent his head down and to the side to try to see her face in between the separations of her fingers. "It's alright. I'm sorry I didn't think about this sooner. I just…Pep, are you OK?"

Pepper removed her hands from her face and growled. "NO! I'm NOT OK, Tony! I am NOT OK!" Her arms flailed in the air with her words.

Tony was taken aback by her sudden outburst, stared at his dad for a second for some clue as to why Pepper was taking the media garbage to heart, and then placed his hands on her waist. "What am I missing here?"

"Seriously, Tony?" She sighed but did not pull away from his hold. "My DAD is probably watching this right now! He's gonna freak, at least. I'm in _soooo_ much trouble." She placed her hands on her cheeks, pulling down on her skin in desperation.

"What? Why trouble? Your dad will be happy you're alive!"

"Actually," Howard interrupted them much to Tony's chagrin. "I just received a call from a friend that has been keeping an eye on Virgil, you know, just in case you turned up." Tony's eyes widened by his father's revelation. "That's part of the reason why I'm here."

Tony's hands, which were still on her waist, felt her muscles tense up under him. She pulled away from his embrace and turned around, walked back to Howard and held her breath. Her hands clutched together on her chest, and she swallowed hard to ask the question that was burning her lips. "You know where my dad is? Is he alright?"

"Pepper," Howard lowered his voice. He placed his hands on her upper arms and stared directly at her eyes. "Your father had a heart attack. The news…he didn't take it well."

The small whimper that escaped her lips stabbed Tony's soul and before he could stop her, she ran out of the lab, leaving behind two men calling out her name.

* * *

**A/N:** I know, I'm mean. But, I've done worse :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Her legs gave up on her when she reached the exit of the compound; her eyes were now unusable due to the flow of tears. The sobs mercilessly racked her shoulders and by the time she realized she was falling, it was too late to stop. The images of her father in the hospital bed last time he had been beaten up when searching for Mr. Fix came back to her, and she doubted she could see him on the verge of death again. _I should've tried looking for him right away! Why did I waste time?_

Even though the rational part of her told her she had not wasted time, the guilty side of her blamed herself for not immediately finding her father's whereabouts as soon as she was conscious this morning. Not twenty-four hours had passed since her return, and she was already causing trouble for the ones she loved. She almost did not hear Tony catching up with her, calling her name, but she did feel his arms around her, pulling her up from the ground and cradling her on his lap.

"Sshh, Pepper. Calm down, he's gonna be alright. We're going to go see him, OK?" He whispered in her ear and rocked her back and forth. He kissed her forehead and combed her disarrayed hair with his fingers, but she seemed to be far away from Earth. "I promise, Pepper. We'll go over there today; we'll take my jet, and be there in no time."

Pepper held onto the front of his shirt with her fists and buried her head in the nook of his neck. She wanted to be there today, just as Tony had said, but she was also afraid of seeing him again. What if Virgil hated her? What if he was mad at her for leaving? What if he had already moved on after her funeral? Her questions were trivial, she knew, but he was all the family she had left; the idea of losing the last semblance of kinfolk she had broke her heart. "I can't lose him, Tony. I can't lose my dad."

If anyone in the world understood what it was like to lose a father, it was Tony Stark. And, if anyone in the world knew what it was like to fight your way to recover your father, it was Tony Stark as well. "You won't. We won't let him give up."

Taking the way her arms surrounded his neck as a sign that she was ready to move, Tony lifted her in his arms with the ease Extremis allowed him. He turned around in place and slowly walked back to the armory while carrying Pepper in his arms. Howard Stark was still inside and on the phone, presumably arranging for Tony's airliner to be ready for takeoff immediately. The older man spared his son and friend a quick glance before returning his attention to the conversation over the phone. One look at them, however, was all that was needed to confirm his suspicions that his son felt much more than just friendship for the redheaded girl, and that she reciprocated the feelings as well.

Without a word, Tony carried Pepper into his room and sat her on the edge of the bed. He walked inside the bathroom, grabbed a hand towel, damped it with warm water, and then returned to his bedroom with it. He kneeled on the floor in front of Pepper and began wiping her face clean of dust and dried tears as delicately as he could. "Did you hear my dad? The jet is waiting for us, but I can't take you anywhere until you pull yourself together, Pep. I know it's hard, but I'm not bringing you with me if you don't promise you won't hurt yourself with worry. It won't do your dad any good to see you like this."

For an instant after he had already spoken the words, the memory of his father giving him similar advice regarding his condition while searching for Pepper, returned to him. As always, the old man had been right; not that he would tell him about it, yet, but he had been correct once more. "So, you promise, Pepper? I don't like seeing you like this."

Pepper gave him a slight nod as she stood up from the bed. She grabbed the towel from Tony and lightly pushed him aside to make her way to the bathroom to finish cleaning her face up. "I'll be out in a moment. Do you have a bag I can borrow for my clothes?"

"It will be out here by the time you come out."

"Thanks," she mumbled and disappeared behind the bathroom door. Tony exhaled loudly, shook his head to regain his composure, and ran toward his closet. He slid the doors open and extended his arm to the top shelf to grab two travel bags. He placed them both on his bed. He unzipped the closest one to him and had begun filling it with clothes to last him for several days, when his father walked inside the room.

"The plane will be ready by the time you get there."

"Aren't you coming?"

"No, not yet. I'll let you kids get settled over there, first; she'll probably want some time alone with Virgil. I'll sort out some things here at SI and I'll take a flight there in a couple of days."

"OK." Tony placed his last set of clothes inside the bag. He opened the bottom drawer of his nightstand and took out a travel kit bag, dumped it inside the bag and zipped it close. He picked up the bag and swung it on his shoulder, walked around his bed and knocked on the bathroom door. "Pep, I'll wait for you in the car. We're driving straight to the airport."

"OK. I'll be out in a minute."

"Take your time."

By the time Tony turned around to head to the door, his father had already walked out of the room. He found him standing by the exit of the temple, clearly waiting for his son to stop by. Tony walked to where his father was, and spoke in a low voice to prevent Pepper from hearing their conversation.

"When did you plan to tell me you were keeping tabs on Virgil?"

"Around the same time you planned to tell me she was back."

"It just happened last night, OK? It's a long story, which I'm surprised you don't know about seeing as you were playing spy on her dad."

"I wasn't spying on him. I was making sure he was alright. I know what it feels like to lose a wife_ and_ a child."

Tony stared toward the entrance of his room when he heard the bathroom door open and close; he held his breath for a few seconds, expecting Pepper to show up but when she did not, he took a deep breath. He rubbed his forehead with his right index finger before looking up to stare at his father again; this time, his face seemed more apologetic and less accusing. "Thanks…for calling for the jet; and, for watching over Pepper's dad. And…I'm sorry…about yesterday."

"And I'm sorry for coming down on you so hard. Sometimes I forget how hard it was for me to move on after your mom left us."

"I was still a kid; I don't remember much of it, but what I do remember wasn't good." Tony agreed, memories of his father drinking himself to sleep returned to his mind.

"Just remember that the next time you decide to forget about taking care of yourself. Pepper's here now, and she can see what it does to you, and I doubt she was happy with what she saw." Howard pointed to Tony's now gone beard. "Think about what she will see when you let go. If not for me or for you, for her; I know how you feel about her, son."

"Is it obvious?" Tony scratched the back of his head, not even bothering to deny what he felt.

"Don't need to be a prodigy to tell."

The sound of Pepper's steps coming out of the room ended the heartfelt conversation between father and son, both of which turned their faces to the side to stare at the incoming girl. She slowly approached the exit of the lab and before any of them realized what she was about to do, she flung her arms around Howard, and hugged him with all the gratefulness she could transfer onto him. "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

Howard was shocked for a moment but then his paternal instinct kicked in and he returned the embrace. "It was nothing, Pepper. When your dad wakes up, say hello to him for me."

Pepper chuckled and nodded on his chest. When she finally pulled away, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and frowned. "I'm sorry. I got your shirt wet."

Howard chuckled as he pulled the front of it with his index finger and thumb. "It'll dry. Now go see your dad. I'm sure he'll be just fine."

Pepper nodded, readjusted her travel bag and turned to Tony. "I'm ready."

Tony grabbed Pepper's hand in his left one, waved to his dad with his right, and led her to the basement garage staircase door. Pepper gave Howard one last thankful wave and nod before they rounded the corner to the staircase and disappeared. After they loaded the trunk with their bags, and after buckling up and starting the car, Tony ordered his computer to execute a lockdown of the building after he and his dad left the premises. As always, his computer complied.

xxxXXXxxx

By the time they arrived at the hospital in Los Angeles that Howard had told them Virgil was in, the last round of visiting hours was over –it had been nearly midnight. The fact had not stopped Pepper from finding out the condition of her dad, however, and she had been relieved when she had been told he had been lucky to pass out next to an off-duty paramedic, who had given him immediate first-aid, critical to reducing the damage the heart attack could have done to him. Tony had wondered, however, how much of the off-duty paramedic situation had been a coincidence, and how much of it had been his father's doing.

The wee hours of the morning found the teens walking toward an elevator in a hotel close to the medical facility to which Virgil had been admitted. The rush of adrenaline that had driven Pepper to stay awake for almost fifteen hours was finally retreating, leaving behind a tired-looking and sounding young woman. Her arms were snaked around one of Tony's, and her head rested on his shoulder while he helped her reach her room. He was also exhausted from all the commotion, but he had gone longer without sleep after patrolling the streets for hours; he could afford to make sure she was tucked in before he passed out in his own room.

He used her keycard to unlock the door, closed the door behind him, and carefully walked her to the bed. He had requested adjacent rooms with connecting doors in case she needed him. He would have preferred they shared a room, even if he had to sleep on the floor, if just to make sure no one came to take her again. He would not give Gene or the Makluan up for dead until he saw their rotting bodies with his own eyes. However, after the drama that had caused Virgil's heart attack in the first place, the last thing he wanted to do was give the media more ammunition to worsen the situation for all of them.

Tony helped Pepper lay on the bed atop of the covers for now as he pulled away from her and walked toward the sofa. He deposited both bags on it, and he then returned to the bed. He stood by her dangling feet and slipped off her shoes. He placed them by the foot of the bed, and now that his hands were free of obstructions, he walked around the bed to the opposite side from where Pepper lay. He pulled down the covers, walked back to Pepper, picked her up, walked to the opposite side of the bed, and tucked her under the covers. She was still wearing the same clothes she had left the boutique with, but he knew she was too tired to care right now.

After covering her with the blankets he returned to the sofa for his bag. He swung it over his shoulder and went to check up on the redhead one last time. He brushed her now-long bangs off her face before leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "Good night, Pepper."

She responded with a mumble Tony assumed meant "Good night, Tony," and he left the room after that by using the connecting door to his room. He sent his father a text message to inform him in which hotel they had checked in before he felt himself falling prey to a deep sleep. As he was losing consciousness, he patted the empty spot next to him on the bed and wondered how one night with Pepper by his side made it so difficult to for him to not have her there tonight. Unbeknownst to him, the girl next door was having similar thoughts about the absence of his presence in her bed.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror in the bathroom of her hotel room. She was wearing purple flats, skinny blue jeans, and a purple, silk tunic blouse with half-sleeves. Around her waist the blouse had a loose string made of the same fabric as the top, allowing her to accentuate her curves by tying it into a small bow on her right side. She held her long hair up in a ponytail, and her bangs fell to the sides of her face. She hardly ever wore makeup, but the long time away from home and the events of the last two days had her looking like a zombie, so she had added some concealer under her eyes, brushed some blush on her cheekbones, and put on raspberry balm to her lips. Satisfied that she looked presentable for her dad, she finished her ensemble by spraying some perfume on herself and putting her small wallet in her back pants pocket.

She exited the bathroom and headed to the connecting door, knocking on it three times before letting herself in. Tony was standing by the dresser, buttoning up his black, short-sleeve shirt above the white t-shirt he wore underneath. He left the last two buttons on the top open, not bothering to tuck in either shirt inside his jeans. He took a step back to pick up his black and blue tennis shoes from the floor and when he looked up again he saw Pepper standing by the side of his bed. He had heard her knock on the door but he had not expected to see her looking so…

"Wow," was all he could utter as his eyes stared at her up and down.

"Mhh?" She tilted her head to the side in her confusion, making her look even more endearing to him. He shook his head to dismiss his poor attempt at a compliment and walked by to stand next to her, cupped the left side of her neck with his right hand – his left still held his shoes – pulled her forward to him and kissed her cheek.

"Morning, Pep." He whispered to her as he sat down on the edge of the bed and concentrated on putting on his shoes. Pepper froze where she stood for a moment, surprised at his gesture just now, but when she remembered their almost real kiss of yesterday, she decided that his latest action had not been as blunt as the one they had almost completed the day before. Needless to say, both actions implied a serious conversation between them was due, but for now she had more pressing matters to tend to: her father.

Even though at the moment it seemed as if Tony was more concerned with tying his shoes than anything else, truth was that he was mentally slapping himself on the forehead. He had no idea what had taken over him just seconds ago, and while such physical signs of affection were not uncommon between them even before she had disappeared, he felt he had somehow overstepped his boundaries with her just now. He knew why he had done it, but he did not know why he had let himself go forward with it. The last thing he wanted Pepper to think was that she did not deserve a proper explanation of what he felt, and an opportunity to have a say on whether or not he was allowed to venture into territory only a significant other would be allowed to explore with her.

"How did you sleep?" He asked as he finished tying his shoes and stood up to walk to the nightstand to grab his wallet. "I was so tired, I just passed out."

"I slept well, thanks. Visiting hours are not for another two hours. Mind if we grab a bite to eat?"

"Not at all," he responded, walking toward her with a keycard in his hand. "This is yours, by the way. I took it with me last night by accident." He handed her the card and she accepted it, placing it inside her front pants' pocket. "Ready?"

"Ready." Pepper walked toward the door of his room and opened it. She waited as Tony gave his room one last glance to make sure he did not forget anything important and before he locked the door again he snapped his fingers.

"Wait, I forgot something." He ran back inside the room.

"What is it?" She asked from the hall.

Pepper's question was answered when he returned to the hall with a box in his hands. He handed it to her before turning around to lock his door. "Open it. I've figured you needed a new one, anyway."

"A new what?" Pepper asked as she opened the small box. The box was white and unlabeled, so it was not until she unveiled the device inside that she realized what Tony had meant. "Is this a Stark Pod?"

"Yeah, but it's my altered design. You can't find this type in stores. I created these ones just for you, me and Rhodey. I was going to surprise you guys with them when we returned from China, but…well…"

"Yeah," Pepper nodded as she gave his hand a squeeze. "Thank you, Tony." She smiled at him before letting go of his hand and busying herself with her new phone. Tony led the way out of the hall and into the elevator, all the while a small smile kept creeping up his face. He could get used to being with Pepper like this; he could get used to being around her all the time.

* * *

**A/N:** I miss being a teen :(


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_"She's alive?"_ The new incoming text to Tony's cellphone from Rhodey startled him. He knew his friend had very little time to communicate with anyone while attending the Air Force Academy in Colorado, but he could not blame him for perhaps breaking some of the rules of his new school –especially in a situation like this. Even with the super stealthy Stark Pod Tony had sent Rhodey a few weeks ago, the Air Force student did not want to risk being kicked out of the Academy for something as simple as texting during class.

Tony flipped open his pod and responded to James' inquiry, inviting for the both of them to have an overdue text conversation.

_"Yes, and well. Hardly a scratch."_

_ "When?"_

_ "Two days ago. She was left at NYTA but came to the armory at night."_

_ "Shit! What happened?"_

_ "She hasn't told me much."_

_ "Gene's still alive?"_

_ "She thinks not."_

_ "You?"_

_ "I think yes."_

_ "Where are you?"_

_ "Hospital. Virgil had a heart attack when he found out."_

_ "TV?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Damn."_

_ "You can say that again."_

_ "Damn."_

_ "Rhetorical."_

_ "I know. I gotta go. Break's over. Catch up?"_

_ "Yes, soon."_

Tony put away his phone for now. The hospital hall he was in was quiet and practically empty as he waited for Pepper's visit to her dad to come to an end. The hospital had two different slots for visiting hours: one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, and they planned to be present for both. Pepper had wanted Tony to go inside with her, but Tony had insisted that perhaps it was best for her to go inside alone. Virgil was yet to wake up since the incident, and Tony doubted the first person the man wanted to see was the person he blamed for Pepper's disappearance.

Tony adjusted his posture in the uncomfortable chair, stretching his legs in front of him on the floor, and his arms at his sides atop the chairs next to him. Pepper still had about an hour until the morning visiting slot ended, which left him plenty of time to sulk in his thoughts. He rested his head on the edge of the chair and closed his eyes, relaxing as much as possible. From all the things he could have thought about at the moment: _Who was watching over the city while Iron Man was away? When were his entrance documents due for MIT? Would Pepper's dad be alright? Where was Gene? What had happened to the Makluan rings? What had the Alien Guardian put Pepper through?_ – the only thought his mind could concentrate on now involved Pepper's lips on his.

_Pepper_, Tony sighed, recalling the feeling of her mouth on his, brief as it might have been. Despite his previous constant denials to Rhodey that he had in fact liked Pepper as more than just a close friend, deep inside he had always known the redhead held a special place in his heart. How special, however, he had not known for certain until she had slipped through his grasp. Six months was a long time to wait – and think – and besides the upgrades to his tech and the temple, Tony had an acceptance of his feelings for his friend to show for the time he had spent locked up in his little world. It had been gradual, constant, like the dripping of a leaky faucet, until one day it had just burst open and nearly drowned him in pain and understanding. He recalled the day as if it had been yesterday, but it had been three months ago; a few days after Rhodey had left for the Academy.

He had just had another fight with his father regarding his postponement to enrolling in MIT for the Fall semester. After a long argument, Howard and Tony had compromised: Tony would continue his search for Pepper, uninterrupted, until the end of the year. However, Howard would work on getting everything ready to get Tony admitted to MIT, and he would start school at the beginning of the following year; no more delays, no questions asked. After Howard had left after the agreement had been made, Tony had spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about the last question his father had asked him that day: _what will you do if you don't find her?_

At first, he had immediately answered himself that he would just keep searching, every day, nonstop. He did not need to be in the lab for the computers to continue working, and he could get an instant notification of her location via the pod. He had almost been satisfied with his answer until a question resulted from his previous response: how long would he look for her?

A month?

Another year?

The rest of his life?

The last option had seemed appealing to him, seeing how desperate he was to bringing her back, but what would searching for a missing person until the day you died truly entail?

Another damned question had popped up.

He had figured he would end up going to MIT, graduating, expanding his own company and taking over SI, and all while waiting for that one message from his computer that would signify Pepper was back. He had always dreamed of taking over the company, enhancing it, making it the best technology company in the world…but he had never considered the reality of the other side of his life; his personal life.

What about a family; a wife and kids?

To that he had not given much thought.

Clearly, he was not exempt to the circle of life, and thanks to Andros Stark he knew he would one day marry and have kids of his own. Andros had never mentioned whom Tony would marry, and he doubted he would have volunteered the information if asked, but the idea of continuing his infinite search for the girl he had placed in harm's way, while trying to be a son, a father and a husband did not seem to be as simplistic as he had initially thought it would be.

Would his wife complain about his devotion to finding his friend?

Would his kids reproach him for spending so much time searching for a dead girl rather than with them?

Would his company survive his constant escapades to check on any Makluan energy leads?

Tony Stark had hit his head on the wall one too many times by then that night. Every time he had found an answer to another question, an even more difficult question would pop up. He had gone around in circles, late into the night, trying every loophole and response imaginable to answer the simple initial question of what he would do if Pepper never came back. All answers had seem too complex, too risky, too difficult for everyone involved, and none of them had seem to be the absolute solution to all of his problems until a final question had come to his mind: why go through all this trouble at all?

And the answer had come to him in a blaze, shaking him to the core, forcing him to take seat and sending him to a long silence way into the night. Why would Tony Stark, the man who could have anything and anyone, go through the trouble of finding his long, lost friend, Pepper Potts?

_Because I'm in love with my long, lost friend, Pepper Potts._

And everything had unraveled after that.

xxxXXXxxx

Inside the hospital room, Pepper sat in a chair next to her father's bed. She held his hand in both of hers, stroking the back of it and willing him to open his eyes. "I'm so sorry you found out like this, Daddy. I didn't know where you were…I was going to tell you in person. I wanted you to hear it from me."

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only response she got. She looked down at her pod and realized the nurse would stop by to escort her out any moment now. Even though she had spent every waking minute with Virgil, she felt as if she had somehow failed her first visit with him. She knew she had not known what to expect, and the doctors had told her there was nothing else anyone could do for him but wait, but she could not shake the feeling that she had wasted his time and hers. The last time he had been in a hospital bed she had not sat idly by; she had hacked into the FBI database to find Mr. Fix, gotten Iron Man involved and eventually saved the day. She had also almost gotten herself killed, but that just came with the investigator territory.

This time, however, there was no villain to chase, and no mystery to solve. This time, the single perpetrator of his injury was her.

The knock on the door was followed by the sound of it being opened, and Pepper did not make it difficult for the nurse to do her job. She stood up from the chair and walked up to her dad. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, gave him a weak smile and promised him she would be back later on. With a final nod to the nurse, Pepper exited the room and walked out to the hall where Tony was still waiting for her.

"Please tell me you did not spend two hours just sitting there," she walked up to him and offered her hand to help him sit up. Tony gladly accepted it and pushed himself up from the chair, towering over her and looking down at her tired face.

"I don't think you can complain if I did. You were doing the exact same thing in there. How is he?"

Pepper shook her head. "No change, but at least he isn't getting worse, I guess." She crossed her hands over her chest. The two teens remained silent for a moment until Tony's pod rung. He gave Pepper an apologetic smile as he took it out of his pocket and read the incoming text message.

"My dad will be here tonight."

"Really? I didn't know he and my dad were friends."

Tony shrugged. "That makes two of us."

"Hm," she mused, finding it strange that Tony would be unaware of something so out of place, and then began walking toward the exit of the floor. "Anyway, do you mind dropping me off at the airport?"

"Airport?" Tony repeated, walking next to her and holding the door open for her as they reached the reception room, before pressing the down button for the elevator and waiting for it to appear. "I thought you wanted to come back in the afternoon?"

"I do. I am, but, you probably have to go back to school tomorrow, right? I mean, it's gonna be Monday, after all. I'm going to rent a car."

The ring of the elevator doors opening gave Tony a moment to think about his next words. They entered the small room and Tony pressed the basement level button, the door closing immediately afterwards. "You can't rent a car, Pepper. You don't have a driver's license or insurance."

"Dammit," she slapped her forehead. "You're right. Well, I'll catch a cab."

"Are you nuts? Do you think I'm going to leave you here alone when you need a friend?"

"Are _you_ nuts?" She spat. "Do you think I'm going to let you miss school because I have a problem? C'mon, Tony. I'm a big girl."

The elevator doors opened again and the teens exited in silence. The car Tony had rented was a few feet away from them, so they reached it quickly and got inside. Tony plugged in the keys and started the engine, but did not attempt to shift gears to put the car in reverse. "Pepper, I don't think you understand what's happening here."

"I understand that my dad had a heart attack, and he needs me here."

"Well, yeah, that's a given but…Pepper, you…you've been _gone_…for a _long_ time. We haven't even gotten a chance to get you checked by a doctor! I mean, do you _know_…comprehend…" Tony sighed; the words were just not coming to him. "I'm worried about you, Pepper."

"I'm fine, Tony. I've already told you that."

"Are you, really? Do you really expect me to just accept that you're fine just because you said so?"

"YES, I do! Am I not reliable anymore, just because you don't know what happened to me? Because you didn't see it with your own eyes? Because you weren't there every time Gene tried to…" She pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose, pulled her face away from his and looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Tried to what?"

"Nothing."

"Pepper…Gene tried to WHAT?"

"Will you let it go?"

"No!" He grabbed her forearm and raised it up, forcing her to look up to stare at him. "You want me to believe you're OK? You told me Gene didn't hurt you, but now you're saying he did?"

"I didn't say he hurt me, alright?"

"You didn't _need_ to. I'm not an idiot, Pepper. I can read between the lines."

"Gene didn't hurt me."

"Bullshit!"

"It's _not_ bullshit, Tony! And even if it were, it's not your problem!"

"Yes it is! It _is_ my problem, because it's about you! And Gene better be dead because if he's not and I find him, he's gonna have his ten damned rings shoved up his…"

"STOP! Just…stop! Take me back, please. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Tony opened his mouth to continue the argument, but the look on her face made him stop. He carefully let go of her arm and pulled away from her. "Jeez, Pepper." Tony shook his head as he shifted gears for the car and placed his foot on the pedal. "I know you really liked the guy and all, but what did you do when you were away with him? Get married?"

Pepper's face snapped to stare at Tony's, eyes wide in shock and obvious guilt written all over her features. Tony narrowed his eyes in confusion but then widened them more than hers. He open his mouth to speak but in his confusion he pressed the pedal before he was ready and the car reversed just as another car was passing by, hitting the empty copilot seat for everything it was worth.

Tony let go of the pedal and looked back just in time to see the driver get out of the car and slam the door. "Are you fucking blind, kid?" The aggravated man kicked the tire. "Was your girlfriend giving you a blow -"

The last thing Pepper heard was Tony rushing out of the car himself in a flash, not allowing the driver to finish his question. "Oh, brother." She mumbled as she covered her face with her hands, counted to ten, and then exited the vehicle to calm the beast.

xxxXXXxxx

"What the hell were you thinking, Tony?" Pepper dabbed the alcohol-damp cotton ball on Tony's eyebrow, shaking her head at him. The genius sat on the edge of his bed at the hotel, shirtless, first aid kit next to him on the mattress. Pepper stood above him, patching up his bleeding face, which had been the only place he had gotten hurt during his fist-fight with the angry driver. "We crashed the guy's car. He had every right to be pissed off!"

"Yeah, at me! Not at you! Ouch!" He flinched when the alcohol began to sting.

"He didn't do anything to me. Why did you even take his words to heart? He was just mad; he didn't mean it. He apologized in the end, anyway."

"He shouldn't have insulted you in the first place."

"He didn't. I don't care what he said. Now stop pulling away or I'll pour the entire bottle of alcohol on your face."

"Agh," he mumbled in annoyance but complied. He remained as still as possible until Pepper placed an adhesive bandage above his left eyebrow and turned around to throw away the cotton ball in the trash can.

"Done!"

"Thanks, Pepper." He stood up from the bed and grabbed his ripped and bloodied shirt from the floor and tossed it inside the trash can as well. He then walked to his bag and took out a plain red t-shirt, which brought memories to the redhead standing a few feet behind him. Her eyes glistened for a moment, her mind taking her back to the day she had been kidnapped. She had been so happy, so blissfully unaware of what awaited her on her first official mission in her own suit. She had just been a simple girl who was ready to go to college, be a superhero, and patrol the skies with her friends. And now, six months later, despite her attempts at hiding it, she was…

_Broken._

Tony finished putting on the t-shirt and turned around to face her, the last of his anger slipping away the moment he saw her distant look and the tears threatening to spill. She blinked once and kept her eyes closed when she felt the salty water reaching the corners of her mouth. The next thing she felt was his arms around her, pressing her onto his chest, and she could not hold back the painful sob that escaped her. Her legs grew weak, giving under her and almost making her hit the floor hard, but she was slowly helped down to it because he was there for her.

He had _almost _always been there for her; except for the time he had not been, and nothing would ever change that experience for her.

She hugged him back fervently, her nails scratching his back through his shirt, her sobs turning into desperate wails. Tony was at a loss; he had never seen Pepper so sad, so afraid, so distraught, so…

_Broken._

There was nothing he could think to say or do, other than holding her tight as she cried out her pain. She had cried a few days ago, and a few times before she had been taken, but they had not been liked this.

_Never _like this.

_What did they do to you, Pepper?_ He thought to himself, but could not say the words out loud. He did not want to further upset her, or break the moment she had finally gained the courage to appear weak in front of him, despite the paradox of it all. Pepper hated being the damsel in distress, the one that always needed rescuing; the one that sometimes had to wait for the knight in shining red-and-gold armor to save the day. She despised being a burden to him, to anyone of her friends, to her family, to herself above all. But she was only human, and if there was something Tony had learned in the past few months as he had diligently waited for her return was that it was alright to be just that – human, for only a human would be able to appreciate the lessons life sent our way, and come out of them stronger, better than before, and ready for the challenge of the next day.

"I'm here, Pepper," he whispered to her when her shaking began to subside. "Like it or not, I'm here for you."

"I…I like it," Pepper whispered back to him. "But Gene might've not."

"What does Gene have to do with it? Why would he have even cared?"

Pepper pulled away from Tony, both still kneeling on the floor of his hotel room. She stared up at him, took in a deep breath, and got ready to drop the bombshell on him. It was now or never, and she doubted she would have the nerve to tell him any other time. "Gene might've cared because…" she swallowed hard. "I'm his wife."

* * *

**A/N:** Yup, I've done worse than that, too.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: **BTW, sorry about the mishap with the last chapter. I swapped the stories again, although I wonder how much of it was my fault this time around. I found missing CHUNKS of previous chapters for no reason when the original copy has them there. Sigh. I guess the server updates FF is doing may be messing with my mind. Sorry about that!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Pepper felt Tony's muscles become rigid under her touch, his face becoming pale as he stared down at her with an agape jaw. His blue eyes searched her brown ones, looking for a miniscule sign that she had just made a terrible joke to him, but the sincerity on her soft features was heartbreaking. Images of what a forced marriage to the man he hated with every fiber of his being meant for his Girl Friday invaded the young scientist's mind. The possibilities were endless and nothing short of revolting; in a flash, his world began crashing down onto itself.

"Wah w-w-hat? Do, huh? W-wife? _Married_?"

Pepper looked down, the courage that had pushed her to reveal one more hidden piece of her ordeal to him suddenly leaving her in waves. "Well, since he's dead and all, maybe I should've said widower, huh?" She looked up to him again as she began standing up and took him with her.

Tony's shock was not placated, especially with the faint look of disappointment that flashed in her eyes following her resignation to being the surviving spouse of a maniac. Even if it had been for just an instant, Tony had seen it and it made his stomach churn. He allowed the redhead to guide him to his bed, both sitting on it in an almost mechanical manner. He then stared at his friend from the corner of his eye, not wanting to misread her reactions if only just to avoid pushing the metaphorical, rusty dagger deeper into his back. "Pepper, are you even…did you and Gene…uhm…did-you-did-you, I mean…"

"How about we talk about the details later?" She responded as she stared down at her watch and looked away so that Tony would not see the slight tint of red on her cheeks. "The afternoon visiting hours are going to start soon."

"But –" he began but the beeping of his Stark Pod interrupted him. "My Dad's gonna come pick us up." He said after reading the text message and sighing loudly.

"Really?"

"Well, we have no car, right?" He said in between clenched teeth with more venom than he had intended, but it seemed to him that Pepper had not caught the restraint in his voice.

"Right." Pepper's glaze became lost for another moment as thoughts of Gene crossed her mind, but she shook them off. She could feel the anger growing inside of Tony, and she knew she had to defuse it before it burned down the hotel they were in. "Tony?"

"Uhm?" He stared off into the wall in front of him, unable to look at her after what she had just said. Pepper bit her lip at his stiff posture; she should have followed her gut feeling and should have never said anything to him. She should have stayed quiet, but of course that was the problem, since she hardly ever could. Now, there was no turning back.

"I…" She reached for his hand but Tony pulled away. "Tony?" When he did not respond, she tried again. "Tony, why are you…"

Her question was left unfinished as Tony stood up from the bed and threw his pod at the wall before turning around and staring down at her with fire in his eyes. "_Seriously_, Pepper? You married _Gene_? GENE?"

And, there it was.

"I did but it's not what you think."

"It's not what I think? It's NOT what I THINK? How do you even _know_ what I'm thinking, huh? Are you a mind reader now?" He spat to her as his arms flailed in every direction to show the fury that was quickly rising up in him. "Do you want me to turn around so you can pull out the dagger, Pepper?" He pointed to his back. "Do you want to stab it somewhere else?"

"What is wrong with you, Tony?"

"Wrong with _me_? What is wrong with _you_? I thought you were over him, Pepper! He betrayed you as much as he betrayed me, and you still _married_ him? How could you, Pepper? How could you do this to me?"

"Tony, you're making it sound as if I had a choice!"

"There's always a choice! People don't just marry anybody! They marry people they love! They marry people they want to spend the rest of their lives with!"

Pepper shook her head and covered her face with her hands. The young billionaire took her gesture as a sign of acceptance of his words, which only irritated him more than he already was.

"You-you love him? You LOVE him?"

Pepper removed her hands from her face and it was now her features that were full of rage. She stood up and almost bumped into the genius had he not taken a step back. "From all the things Gene did to me, not _once_ did he speak to me in the way you're doing right now. And, in case you have forgotten, Tony, you're the one who betrayed me first; with him and with Whitney. You willingly chose _them_ over me way before Gene _forced_ me to choose him over you."

Tony opened his mouth to deny her claim but he knew she was correct. Hell! The whole reason why Pepper had begun hanging around Gene was because she had been paired up with him to complete the extra Social Studies paper they had all earned thanks to her outburst. When Pepper noticed he was having a difficult time coming up with a retort she turned on her heels and stomped her way out of his room, slamming the connecting door between them and locking it behind her. By the time Tony realized what she had done, his efforts to twist the doorknob were going to lead him nowhere, fast.

"Pepper? Pepper! Did you just say I am worse than Gene? Did you seriously just compare me to that backstabber?" He pounded on the door.

_"I see they don't call you a genius for no reason, Tony Stark!"_

Tony was taken aback, again, but his shock was quickly phased. "And I see why Gene liked you so much! You're both backstabbers! You both stabbed me in the back!"

The only response he received were stomping and opening and closing of drawers and doors, which for some reason he felt was nothing more than a loud way for her to ignore him, so yet another unfounded, angry statement escaped his lips.

"Are you looking for your dagger? Because it's still attached to my BACK!" The stomping continued until finally a loud slam that caused his room to shake was heard. He pressed his ear to the connecting door and tried turning the doorknob again, but it was still locked. The silence coming from the other room did not sit well with him as he knew Pepper was not discreet when she was in the middle of an argument.

_Unless…oh, crap!_ Tony ran toward his front door, skidded to a stop and ran toward the bed where his pod had ended up bouncing to. He picked it up from the floor, turned around and sped up to his door. He opened and closed the door in a flash before he ran down the hall toward the elevator as if an angry Hulk was chasing him. He pressed the down button and after noticing the elevator was stuck somewhere on the first floor, he cursed his luck and began running toward the stairs.

He almost hit an old lady that was coming out of her room, but thanks to his Extremis agility he was able to dodge her at the last second. Once he finally reached the stairs and remembered he was on the 15th floor, he took in a deep breath and began jumping from one landing to the other, relying on the small amount of the virus he had in him to speed up his descent. Once he reached the bottom floor he all but slammed open the metal door, looked left and right, and when his eyes fell on the reservation desk, he practically flew towards it.

"Potts!" He slammed his hand on the counter. "Did she check out, Pepper Potts?"

"Yes, sir. You just missed her, she –" Tony had no time to waste with the clerk and ran outside the building. Again he looked left and right, twice, and on his second look he saw the redhead hailing a cab at the end of the street. "PEPPER!"

A random cab stopped almost immediately, but only one of her legs had made it inside before he finally reached her, tackled her inside, bag and all, and then closed the door behind them. At first Pepper thought she was being kidnapped or that somebody was trying to hijack her cab, but when her eyes focused on his blue ones, she growled.

"Are you kidding me? Did I forget something? Oh, I know! You're here to return the dagger, aren't you?"

The cab driver looked back at the teens as if what he was seeing was a daily occurrence and shrugged. "You said you wanted to go to the hospital, ma'am?"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"What do you mean 'no'? Get off me, Tony!"

Tony, maneuvering as he could while still pinning Pepper down to the back seat, took out a couple of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and tossed them at the cabbie before he spoke to the surprised man. "Leave, now!"

"What? No!" Pepper began. "Don't leave! Don't…ugh!" She groaned in exasperation and tried to wiggle her body free from Tony's fierce hold. The cabbie took the money and ran out of the car, taking the keys with him and walked inside a nearby café; he had a feeling this was going to take a while. Once Tony was certain the driver was not going to return soon, he looked back at Pepper, only now realizing what position they were in.

He was lying completely on top of her, his left hand held both of hers above her head. His left leg was bent between hers, and his right foot was firmly planted on the floor of the cab, giving him more control over his position. The hand he had used to find the cash was now resting on her waist. Pepper, on the other hand, had been bucking under him to push him off, but once she too realized their positions, she went rigid and her cheeks matched the color of her hair.

"Is this something you learned when I was gone? Does Whitney like it?" She spat to him despite her rapidly beating heart, attempting to use her anger to dilute the convoluted situation upon her.

"Oh, jeez, I don't know," he spat back. "What did Gene think when you were squirming under him?"

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him, and despite the hurtful tears that were forming in her eyes, her tone of voice did not match her pain. "Is that what you came here to ask me? You could've sent me a text message for that!"

"No, I came to stop you from leaving."

"Oh, you aren't done telling me how bad of a friend I am? Goodie! I was hoping you had more insults hiding in that fake friendship face of yours!"

"You're one to talk, Potts! You're the one who married my worst enemy! Behind my back!"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Next time I get married to a villain like, say, Dr. Doom or MODOK, I'll make sure to send you an invitation from the freakin' Twilight Zone!"

"Can you stop yelling at me for two seconds? Or are you practicing to beat the Hulk in a scream match?"

Pepper gasped. "See? That right there is something Gene would've never said to me! And you wonder why I said he was better than you in that respect. He at least loved me!"

"Loved you?" Tony scoffed. "You think that selfish bastard loved anyone but himself?"

"Yes! And he did love me! Unlike other selfish bastards I happen to know!"

"Me? Are you talking about me?"

"I'm looking at you, aren't I?"

"Do you think I don't love you, Pepper? Is this what this is about? Because you're damned wrong! I DO! I can't believe you'd really think I don't care! Then why the fuck do you think I didn't stop looking for you? For the fun of it?"

"Because you feel guilty!" Pepper responded, trying to not let his angry confession get the best of her; she could not really trust it, anyway, as it had been a product of their current fight. "You told me so yourself! You felt like shit that I was taken under Iron Man's watch! It's just a pride thing to you!"

"Pride? PRIDE? You think I threw my college life away to look for you for the sake of PRIDE?"

"You…you threw…you…_aren't_ going to MIT?"

"I…" Tony sighed and looked away. "I postponed it. I'm starting next semester."

"But, Tony…you…you couldn't wait to go…why?"

"Yeah, well, I had better things to do." He responded to her, still unable to face her. "I couldn't just stop searching for you, right? Everyone else already had."

"Tony…" He slowly moved his face back to her, the anger in his eyes almost completely gone. Her eyes landed on the bandage he still had above his eyebrow, and the memory of how he had tried defending her honor made her heart clench. "I'm sorry. You…you are not the same as Gene…or worse… you're just…you're Tony, and he is Gene; and that's all there is to it."

"Pepper…" The young man began, guilt creeping up in him as well. "I'm…I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean what I said…well, except…"

"Except…what?"

"Except…that I…that I do…"

"What are you kids doing?" Howard Stark asked from outside the cab, his head peeking in through the window. "Should I leave you two alone, or…?"

As if on a spring, Tony jumped off Pepper and landed on his back on the floor of the taxi, his feet awkwardly propped up by Pepper's bag. Pepper covered her face with her hands, completely mortified of what Tony's father was thinking about them right about now. Tony was the one to recover first, sat up on the floor and gave his father a nasty look. "I'd say that it's not what you think it is, but I somehow know it doesn't really matter what I say right now."

Howard gave him a smile, completely agreeing with his son's statement. "I thought you and I wouldn't understand each other until much later, son. Glad to see the time has come," he jested. "Pepper?" His eyes landed on the still embarrassed girl. "Are you ready to go see your Dad?"

At the mention of her father, Pepper swallowed her pride and humiliation. She sat up on the seat and nodded, her face still slightly pink around her cheeks. In an attempt to try and get up from the floor, Tony grabbed the handle of the door behind him, assuming it was locked. To his surprise, the door opened wide and Tony had only enough time to pull back his arm before a vehicle rounding the corner at a higher velocity than necessary pried the door off at the hinges, taking it with it as it sped by. Pepper squealed and Tony flinched as they eyed the gaping hole that had once been covered by a door, and even Howard had the decency to recoil at the scene.

"Do you think that door repair will cost 200 bucks?" Tony asked Pepper, recalling the money he had given the driver to leave them to their argument alone, and wondering to himself when he had become an avid involuntary wrecker of other people's cars.

"I think you may want to throw a few thousand more onto that," Pepper answered him before they helped each other out of the cab, determined to avoid the curious stare Howard Stark was giving them.

_Teenagers_, he thought as he chuckled to himself.

xxxXXXxxx

After much deliberation, Howard had convinced Pepper to remain outside Virgil's room with Tony. The trio had been surprised to find out that Virgil had woken up an hour before they had arrived to the hospital, and while Pepper had wanted to see with her own eyes that her father was alright, Tony's father had recommended otherwise.

_"He probably doesn't remember what happened to him, Pepper. It's best if I broke it to him first, just in case."_ Howard had told the impatient teenaged girl. Despite Tony's need to have her do what he knew would make her happy, Tony had begrudgingly agreed with his father. The last thing Pepper needed was feeling even more responsible for her father's health condition by giving him a second heart attack after just waking up from the first.

Even though Pepper had been reluctant to agree with the suggestion, she had accepted it as the best course of action up until now. It had been an hour since Howard had walked inside the room and she was growing anxious that the visiting time would end without her even having the chance to see her father at all. Tony shared her concerns, and while neither of them had spoken more than two words to each other – and had been careful to avoid talking about the incident in the cab – it was obvious that they were both counting down the seconds to when Pepper could finally see her father again.

After five more minutes of no sign of Howard coming out, the only thoughts keeping Pepper sane were that: a) No member of the medical staff had yet rushed inside the room, crash cart in tow; and, b) The memories of Tony's face above hers, his body pressing her down, and his raw emotion-filled declaration – sort of – that he felt something strong for her – maybe as strong as she did for him.

Tony was sitting to her right, his left elbow rested on his leg, and his head resting on his left hand. His right forearm hung lazily on his right knee, and his free hand held his pod in it as he randomly scanned police reports for the need of Iron Man in California. His suit was back in the hotel, but he knew he could just summon it with Extremis on his way to a potential crime scene. However, he was doubtful he could truly concentrate on whipping bad guys' asses at the moment, seeing as his mind was drowning in a sea of Pepper-ridden thoughts.

"I didn't love him, but I did _like_ him" Pepper's small voice said suddenly. It took Tony a moment to realize what she had said, and when he did, his shoulders slumped. When Tony did not respond to her comment, Pepper took in a deep breath and continued to clear her conscious to him. "And had the situation been different, I might've _chosen_ to marry him in the end."

Tony put away his pod and twisted his body so that he was now hunched in the chair, his eyes staring down at the floor. "Different, how?" He asked her, this time preparing to remain calm enough to try and sort out this circumstance between them.

Pepper took a moment to organize her thoughts and measure her words. "Different as in if he had not been a villain, and I had not been kidnapped, and if I didn't now see him as I see Rhodey, and if _you_ had not been in my life."

Tony took in her words, played with them in his mind, jumbled their order several times, but it did not matter how he arranged them, the ideal situation that Pepper was describing would have never happened unless they were able to go back in time and change everything for everyone involved.

"That's a lot to ask for, Pep."

"Maybe that's why it would never happen."

Tony flared his nostrils and smiled weakly, lightly shaking his head. "Did he love you?"

"Not in the way that would've warranted a marriage, but yes, he did."

"Then, why did he ask you to get married?"

"Forced."

"Forced," he used her word. "Forced you to get married?"

Pepper shook her head. "It doesn't matter why. I think the marriage license is only valid in the same zip code as Oz." She ended with a chuckle that Tony could not help to mimic himself.

"You should've just said so in the beginning, Pepper. You had me worried there for a moment."

Pepper twisted her arm around his, laced her fingers in his, and made it so that their arms rested on his left leg. Tony stared at their intertwined hands with a hopeful smile before he heard her speak again.

"I've tried to tell you a million times," Pepper began. "But you won't stop talking long enough to let me."

It took Tony a brief second to remember where he had heard those words before, and when it finally dawned on him, he chuckled. He shook his head lightly and pulled their hands toward his lips and pressed a chaste kiss on the back of her hand before returning them both to their original position. The gesture made Pepper smile and her heart filled with even more faith that there was something growing between them

"You stink, Pepper," he jested.

"But, you wouldn't have me any other way."

"No," he finally stared at her. "I wouldn't have."

Their silent eye conversation ended when Howard walked outside to let Pepper know her father was ready to see her alive again.

* * *

**A/N:** So, I just realized that I said Pepper's mom died, but in the series she's still alive. Please just bear with me; the situation helps the plot. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to review!


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Her eyes focused on his and she gulped, afraid of uttering the first word. The tears in his eyes stabbed at her heart, and before she knew it she was crying too. Her legs moved on their own accord and she ran toward the bed and slammed her body onto his chest. Virgil surrounded her with his arms and kissed the top of her head, sobs echoing on the pale walls. "I thought I'd lost you, Patricia."

"I thought _I_'d lost you, Dad."

Virgil patted her back and then carefully pulled a strand of her hair with his fingers. He thought he would never get to hold his little girl, and after months of waiting and grieving, he had finally given up all hope of finding her alive. This moment had seemed impossible for him just a few days ago, and while the circumstances were not the best for either one, he was just happy to have her back in one piece.

"Your hair is longer." He said as he stared down at her, memories of a similar redhead he once knew coming to mind.

Pepper nodded, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "You like it? I think I might let it grow even more."

Virgil nodded. "You look more like your mom like that."

Pepper's eyes lit up. She did not remember much of her mother by now, and the very few memories she had of her related to a frail and pale woman who fought cancer until the end. She had seen a few pictures of her of when she was younger, but Pepper was certain she was nowhere near as beautiful as her mom had been. "Really?"

"Yes, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes it, right?"

"What? I don't understand," she said despite the rush of blood to her face, which caused Virgil to chuckle.

"You don't need to hide it from me, Patricia. I may be old, but I'm not blind. Howard told me everything."

Pepper's eyes shifted from side to side, trying to imagine what Howard could have possibly told Virgil that was making him bring up such a conversation at such an awkward time. "I didn't know you and he were best buds?" she asked, attempting to sidetrack the conversation she was growing uncomfortable with.

"I wouldn't say best buddies, but he's a good man. He went through some of the same things I had to go through, so he understands more than anyone else I know, would."

"I guess so," Pepper said as she adjusted her position on the bed. "Anyway, are you OK, Dad? Are you still in pain? I missed you so much. When can we go home?"

Virgil laughed aloud. Not once in his lifetime did he ever think he would be happy to hear Pepper's incessant questioning. Howard had assured Virgil that, other than some expected mental scarring, Pepper was otherwise alright from her kidnapping. He had also informed the FBI man that she had been well taken care of in the last few days by his son himself. Virgil had not expected anything less from the young genius, even though the last time they had spoken they had parted on terms that were less than favorable.

"I missed you too, Patricia." He hugged his daughter once more. "And, I'm feeling OK. I'm still a little tired," he admitted. "But nothing a good rest can't fix."

"I'm so happy that you made it, Dad. And, I'm so sorry how you found I was alive. I promise I didn't fake my kidnapping to run away with anyone, especially with Tony."

"I know you didn't; it was the shock of seeing you alive that surprised me the most. I know my daughter, and I knew you wouldn't be capable of pulling such an outrageous feat."

"Still, I should've called you right away. I meant to, I promise."

"It's alright. As long as you're unharmed and happy, that's all I care about right now."

Father and daughter remained in silence for a little while until Virgil asked Pepper a question she knew she had to answer truthfully. "Patricia, what happened to you?"

Pepper bit her lip and closed her eyes, inhaling as deep as possible to gain the courage she needed to relay to her father the ordeal she had gone through. She knew she did not have to go into detail, but only provide enough information to set her father's concerns at ease. "Are you sure it's healthy for you to hear this? It wasn't pretty."

"I'm sure. Besides, where better to drop shocking news on me than while I'm at a hospital, right?"

Pepper hesitated for a moment but finally relented. "Alright," she began as she made herself comfortable on his bed. "It all started when the Makluan Guardian showed up…"

xxxXXXxxx

Tony's eyes were glued to the closed door that led to Virgil's room. He had hardly moved an inch since Pepper had gone inside. His father sat to his left, silently staring at his son's demeanor. Even though they had not spoken a word, Tony knew his father had millions of questions for him, and not all pertained to how Pepper had made it out alive from wherever she had been taken to. After five minutes of eerie calm, Howard cleared his throat and spoke.

"So, what do you plan to do now?"

Tony shrugged but did not look away from the door. "It all depends on what she wants to do. I'm still going to MIT in the Spring, if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm not. I know you'll keep your promise."

Howard waited for Tony to speak again but when he did not, the old man knew he had to play dentist and pull teeth –information, out of Tony in a somewhat painful and slow manner. "I guess what I meant to ask was what's going to happen between you and Pepper."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, her father is back, so I'm guessing she'll want to go back to live with him, right?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't she?"

"And her father now lives in California…and MIT is in Massachusetts."

Tony shoulder's tensed before he slowly pressed his back against the chair as his father's words sunk in. His eyes finally moved away from the door and he stared down at his lap. He knitted his brows in deep concentration, and Howard allowed his son to put together the pieces of the giant puzzle. "I didn't think about that."

"Do you know where Pepper wanted to attend college?"

Tony shook his head. "She wanted to join S.H.I.E.L.D., but they require a college degree and she never got a chance to choose one or send any applications."

"I figured she didn't. And to go to college, she needs a high school diploma," Howard pointed out. "Which, I think, she didn't get to earn in the end."

Tony rubbed his eyes with his fingers, suddenly feeling the beginnings of a major headache coming his way. "No, I guess she didn't get the chance to do that either."

"Then maybe you and Pepper should have a conversation about what you'll want to do." Howard offered, trying to subtly let his son know that this was not the end of the road.

"What's your point, Dad? I don't think you're bringing this up just because you're curious."

"My point is that you two are still young, and probably haven't thought much about the future; but you're not kids anymore, Anthony. I think she's been through a lot, and I'd hate for her to be strung along by you and your feelings of guilt. If you're going to make a move and be honest with her, you better do it soon, and be ready to either flee or commit."

"What makes you think I'm stringing her along?"

"I didn't say you were, but the emotions are high right now since she just came back, and the two of you being so young…well, sometimes we make mistakes, or think we want something but we really don't."

Tony's head snapped to his left to face his father with a scowl marring his usual relaxed look. "Young? You keep saying that, but I don't see what it has to do with anything or what the point of this conversation is. Are you saying that you don't like Pepper? Or that you don't want me to date her? Because you can forget it. If she wants me, we're staying together."

Howard raised his hands in a defensive stance. "The complete opposite, actually. I really like her; she's a great person if she has put up with your ego this long. But if I were you, I'd rather just have her friendship than nothing at all. She's good for you, in any respect; but seeing it from her and her father's perspective, the last thing I'd want is for her to come back to a reality that is no longer what it was when she left."

"So, you think that I may be feeling like I want her to stay because I feel guilty?"

"It is a possibility that no one would judge you for."

Tony returned his gaze to the door as memories of his and Pepper's earlier argument returned to him.

_"Do you think I don't love you, Pepper? Is this what this is about? Because you're damned wrong! I DO! I can't believe you'd really think I don't care! Then why the fuck do you think I didn't stop looking for you? For the fun of it?"_

_ "Because you feel guilty! You told me so yourself! You felt like shit that I was taken under Iron Man's watch! It's just a pride thing to you!"_

"Just a pride thing for me," he mumbled under his breath so that Howard would not hear him. She had been partially correct that his ego had taken a hit when Pepper had been taken right under his nose, but he was certain that Rhodey's pride had been deflated as well. However, Rhodey did not have the same feelings for Pepper as Tony did, and Tony had been the only one to continue his search for the girl, so he believed it had to have meant that he truly cared for her as more than just a friend. However, what if his father was right? What if what he was currently feeling was nothing more than guilt masquerading as the beginnings of love?

_No, I already felt something for her before she was taken_, he told himself. _I would've taken the next step with her either way._

"Tony?"

The inventor's eyes looked up to stare at the object of his affection looking back at him. She was resting the side of her body against the frame of the open door leading to Virgil's quarters, twisting her hair nervously in her finger. "My Dad wants to see you."

"What?" Tony stood up.

"He, uhm, he asked for you. He wants to talk to you." She shrugged.

Tony stared at his father who also shrugged in return before the genius took the few steps that were separating him from Pepper. She moved out of the way to let Tony pass and once he was inside she closed the door on her way out of the room. The click of the door signaling Tony and Virgil were now by themselves was the only noise in the room for a few seconds until Virgil spoke.

"Hi, Tony. It's good to see you again."

Tony swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck in nervousness. "Hello, Mr. Potts. Good to see you're OK."

Virgil shrugged. "I could be better, but I really can't complain; I got my Patricia back."

"Right," Tony began. "About that…well, I'm sorry…about causing this mess. It will never happen again."

Virgil raised a single eyebrow. "You can't really say something will never happen again or ever. That's a tough promise to keep."

"I meant to say that she won't be placed in that situation again." Tony explained. "I'm no longer taking her with me on missions, and I've permanently decommissioned her armor. I promise you, sir, she won't be placed in harm's way because of me."

"Oh," Virgil said in a low voice. "Does she know she won't get to be Rescue, again?"

Tony sighed and shook his head. "No. I haven't had a chance to tell her yet, but the decision was made the day she disappeared."

"By whom?"

"Me." He pointed a finger to his chest. "I made the armor for her; I should've known better."

"She might be disappointed about that. She really likes the superhero business, apparently," Virgil stated, recalling the conversation he and Pepper had just had minutes ago. "What about when she joins S.H.I.E.L.D.? She still wants to do that, you know. How are you going to stop anything from happening to her then?"

Tony looked down at the floor, unable to think of a good response. As much as he wanted Pepper to be safe, he really could not keep her from doing what she wanted to do. Anything she decided to do was her decision, and every job in the world carried some type of risk. If it were up to him, he would keep the redhead in a bubble where nothing and no one could hurt her, but he knew it was just wishful –and idiotic, thinking. In the end, he knew he could not bring himself to deprive Pepper of enjoying her life, even if what she decided to do did not sit well with him.

"If you ever figure it out," Virgil continued, "let me know the answer because I haven't figured out a way to make her stop hacking into the FBI database."

Tony chuckled lightly. "You mean saying 'no' to her is not enough?" He said in an obvious joking manner, and both men laughed aloud. Once the laughter ended, however, Virgil's face turned serious once more.

"Look, Tony, I owe you an apology."

"What?" Tony asked, wide eyed and shocked.

"All this time I had blamed you for what happened to my daughter, but it wasn't your fault. She's stubborn and she would've done whatever she wanted, anyway. If I, being her father, can't keep her from dashing into danger, you had no better chance than me."

"I…I was at fault, Mr. Potts. She went there because I made her a suit."

"You made her a suit because she asked you for one."

"And I should've said no."

"But you're her friend, and you care for her, so you said yes because that made her happy."

"But…"

"That's enough, Tony. If you want to place blame, then everyone shares some of it here: you for building the suit, her for being so nosy, me for spending more time working than with her, and I could go on and on. In the end, whatever happened is over and we all have to move on. I've made my peace with it, and as far as I know so has she. I just wanted to make sure that you knew I don't hold any of it against you, and even though I didn't take it well when you first told me, I've gotten over it. I know you're very important to her, and if I hadn't made it out of this heart attack, at least she would've had you around."

Tony was at a loss for words. He stared at Virgil and then at the closed door, and then back at Virgil again but he could not think of anything to say. The heaviness of his father's words and now Virgil's were weighing him down; they both wanted to know if Tony was serious about starting up anything with Pepper, or at least make him aware of how the girl really saw him. Maybe his father was right; maybe he was taking more than he could chew. He had not been aware of how his actions were being perceived, and for an instant he felt the need to run to the nearest window and just jump to his death.

_Can I do this? Is this what my Dad was trying to tell me? Is this really what I want? Can Pepper and I really…_

A soft knock on the door caught his attention, and when the door opened, Virgil had a first-hand experience of the situation Howard had spoken to him about just earlier today. He saw Tony's eyes light up when he saw the redhead peeking inside the room. Her eyes were half closed and she had her hand on her mouth trying to conceal a yawn. She rubbed one of her eyes, feeling drowsiness taking over her as she looked up to stare back and forth between Tony and Virgil. "Are you two done in here? The doctor is outside and wants to check up on my Dad again. Plus, visiting hours are over."

Tony smiled at her and nodded before he turned to Virgil and bowed his head slightly, a silent promise established between them. He then walked up to the door and led Pepper outside. His father was talking to the doctor but when the medic saw both teens were out of the room, he excused himself and walked inside the room. Howard could read on his son's face that Virgil had also questioned his intentions as he had earlier, so he decided to leave the two alone for now.

"I'm going to call a cab, Tony. Here." He threw Tony the keys of the car he had rented for himself. The young genius caught them with no problem but still gave his father a confused look. "I need to go back to New York tonight, so you can keep the car. It's rented for the entire week."

"But, Mr. Stark…" The redhead began but stopped when Howard shook his head.

"It's alright, Pepper. You need the car to come back tomorrow to see your dad. The doctor said he expects him to be able to go home in a couple of days, anyway."

"But…"

"Anthony, why don't you tell Pepper that she has no say in this?" Howard joked as he waved his hand goodbye to the two youngsters and began walking toward the door. Pepper tried taking a step toward him, but Tony held her back.

"It's a lost battle, Pep. He doesn't listen if he thinks he's right."

"No wonder you're like that, too," she responded with a small smile on her face before she covered yet another yawn. "God, I'm about to pass out."

"Let's go back to the hotel, then."

"You go back to the hotel. I'm going home."

"Home? What? Why?"

"Well, for one, I've already checked out, remember? And for two, my dad gave me the keys to his new place. I want to make sure everything is nice, clean and ready when he goes back."

"But, Pepper…I…"

"You, what?"

"Nothing. You're right. I'll take you home."

"Let's go, then," she said and began walking, closely followed by a confused Tony Stark that was not sure where his confidence of three days ago had gone off to.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay, and thank you for your patience! Hope you like this short bit!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Pepper wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand as she admired her handy work. The small, two-bedroom townhouse Virgil had now claimed as his home was spotless, and she could not wait to have her father released from the hospital. It was not as if the place had been a mess akin to the one she had found in the Armory, but it had needed a good cleaning anyway. She had also taken the time to move her belongings to the spare room in the home, which Pepper had now labeled as hers. The place was larger than the apartment she and her father had lived in before, but it was still rather small compared to the other homes she had seen yesterday when Tony had driven her here.

_Tony_, she thought sadly. He had been rather quiet during their ride, and after helping her carry her bags inside the home, he had declined her invitation to go inside for a little while. She and Tony had hardly had time to talk to each other in a way that did not include screaming and arguing since her return, and she knew it was imperative for them to have the same talk she and her father had already had – or one similar to it – as she was not ready to tell Tony the full extent of her experiences in Makluan captivity. Hell, she was sure she would never tell him everything that had happened to her during those six months.

_He will never understand what it is to be held captive against your will, and I hope he never has to._

Pepper walked to the nearest couch in the living room and plopped down onto it. She looked over to the side table to her right and found her Stark Pod staring back at her. She grabbed the device and cradled it in her hands only to see she had a few missed calls and messages from the young genius. She flipped open the phone and went down the list of messages.

The first message had been received over two hours ago and it asked her if she was visiting her Dad today. Pepper had called the hospital early in the morning and had informed them that she would not be visiting until the late hours, but had declined to tell Tony about her plans since last night it had not seem as if he had been in a mood to be around her. The second message, received about an hour ago, asked if she was growing hungry. There were no close-by restaurants in the area, and there was not much in the refrigerator for her to use to cook a decent meal. The last message, also from Tony, said that he would stop by her house in half an hour, and said had been received twenty-five minutes ago.

"CRAP!"

The redhead jumped off the couch, ran to the door for a brief second to look outside and flip the latch. Shen then ran upstairs as she texted like she had never texted before. By the time she arrived to the bathroom, Tony was receiving a text message stating the door had been left unlocked and to make himself at home while she took a shower.

xxxXXXxxx

Tony read the text message and sighed as the he rounded the corner to Pepper's home. He had stopped at a burger joint and picked up a meal for each of them after he had called the hospital to ask if she was there when she did not respond to his calls and text messages. When he had been informed that Pepper had called earlier to say that she would be visiting in the afternoon only, Tony had taken it upon himself to get them both something to eat before dropping at her doorstep. After the way he had acted around her yesterday, his father's and Virgil's words had kept him up last night, although he now wondered how much of his insomnia could have been attributed to the fact that he missed Pepper's presence in his room.

"_What makes you think I'm stringing her along?"_

_ "I didn't say you were, but the emotions are high right now since she just came back, and the two of you being so young…well, sometimes we make mistakes, or think we want something but we really don't."_

"But I do want her. I want Pepper with me," Tony reasoned. The rented vehicle finally pulled up in front of her home and he exited it quickly, food bags in hand. He walked up to the entrance and jiggled the doorknob to find that it had been indeed left unlocked. After taking a deep breath, Tony walked inside the home and secured the door behind him.

He looked around the first floor of the home to find the best place to eat and settled for the living room. There was a large television he promptly turned on and tuned in to a random channel while he busied himself by setting up the food on the coffee table. By the time everything was arranged, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, and a few seconds later Pepper was within sight.

She was wearing a blue, denim mini-skirt, and a long-sleeved, thin pink blouse that was both loose and tight at the same time due to the scrunched fabric decorations on the sides of her hips. Her hair was loose and still damp as she intended it to air dry, and for now she had chosen to be barefoot. Their eyes found each other across the room and Pepper gave Tony a small smile.

"That smells good." She licked her lips.

"It's just burgers." He shrugged.

"After cleaning this place, I'd eat anything!" She responded and walked closer to the couch and sat next to Tony's now-sitting form. She noticed that everything was already arranged and was ready to eat while Tony busied himself with the television remote. He channel-surfed the options for a while and finally settled on a documentary of the creation of the universe. He eyed Pepper with questioning eyes as if inviting her to complain about his choice of entertainment, but she merely shrugged.

"Alright," he set down the remote. "Let's eat!"

"Wait!" Pepper turned to her left, placed her right hand on Tony's left cheek, pulled him closer to her face, and gave him a quick peck on his right cheek. "Thank you for helping me," she added with a smile before she let go of him and began unwrapping her burger as if nothing had happened.

Tony's eyes widened in surprise for an instant and he did not move for a moment as he stared at her. A second later he also smiled and returned his attention to his own food. "You're welcome, Pep."

"You know," she said after a brief silence and slurping of her drink, "the universe is not_ that_ complicated."

"What?" Tony knitted his brows and stared at her.

Pepper pointed to the screen with her chin as she continued to talk and eat at the same time. "Axon-Karr showed me a bunch of stuff about the universe that you'd never believe."

"Who?"

Pepper motioned to Tony with her index finger that she still had food in her mouth. She then chewed faster and took a big gulp of her drink before she spoke again. "Axon-Karr was the name of the Makluan Guardian."

_Is this her way of telling me what happened to her?_ Tony wondered as he weighed the possibility of bombarding her with questions, but in the end decided to play it smoothly. He knew that Pepper liked to talk but that if he swooped in with an obvious interrogation, she would immediately shut down. "I didn't know he had a real name."

"Oh, yeah!" Pepper waved her hand to emphasize her point as if it was obvious. "All the Makluan have real names. He was the son of the Makluan Overlord, in fact."

"We…Rhodey and I…_the world_…we got to meet this overlord." Tony said in between bites with a tone as casual as possible.

"I know," Pepper nodded. "I saw. You guys did great. I'm very proud of you and Rhodey. Though, I wish Rescue had been there to give you a hand. For a moment there, I thought you guys weren't going to make it."

"What do you mean you saw? I didn't see you anywhere when the Makluan attacked us."

"Yeah, well. I wasn't actually _there_, there…I was…watching from afar."

"Front-row view?"

"The best," she added before going silent again. Tony felt the conversation could go further than what it had been, so after giving it some thought, he decided to try to continue it.

"So, what makes you think the universe isn't that complex?"

"Oh, it IS complex; it's just not complicated."

"They're kinda the same, Pepper."

"Nope; they are not."

"Care to enlighten this genius? I do have an IQ of over 150, you know?"

Pepper rolled her eyes and patted his right knee lightly. "Alright, Mr. Genius. Allow this humble girl to show you a thing or two."

Tony, who by now had finished his food, turned his body to his right so that he was facing Pepper, and rested his right elbow on the edge of the couch. Pepper mimicked his position and then bent her left leg under herself and pulled herself closer to Tony. "Where do you want me to start to pwn you?"

Tony chuckled and threw his head back. "As if you could," he said with a smile, happy that she was acting more like herself. "Why don't you try the beginning, huh?"

"OK, well, firstly, there are the three fundamental Cosmic Forces of the Universe." She began as she counted with her fingers while she spoke. "You have Eternity; the metaphysical embodiment of All That Is. Death; the metaphysical embodiment of the End of What Is. And, then there's Galactus; the Devourer of Worlds, who is the balance between Eternity and Death. AND, as long as he eats a planet every other week or so, the universe doesn't implode!"

Tony's mouth hung and he blinked a few times. He then looked away from her for a minute as he gathered his thoughts before returning his attention to Pepper. "Did you just use the word 'metaphysical' in a sentence?"

"TONY!"

"I'm sorry, Pepper!" He lifted his hands defensively. "I'm trying forget the part about the guy or thing that EATS worlds for a living."

"Galactus? He's not that bad of a…being…"

"Oh, sure," Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell that to the planets he's had for dinner!"

"You just don't understand the poor guy."

Tony sighed at her statement. No matter how terrible a person acted, Pepper always saw the good in people, which had been the reason why she had kept trying to help Gene turn his life around. Her faith in the goodness of others was a trait he both admired and despised in her, since it was something that could place her in real trouble one day. "Anyway, what else?"

"Well, those three are the main forces for the _structure_ of the universe. And then for the main Cosmic Forces for how the universe _works_, you have Master Order and Lord Chaos, who are the abstract counterparts of Eternity and Death; although, I'm not sure which one's the counterpart of which." She tapped her chin with her finger. "And then there's their balance, the In-Betweener – the abstract counterpart to Galactus – he serves Master Order and Lord Chaos, but he hates them for forcing him into the job. And then there's the less impressive ones; Kronos, the God of Time; the Love-Hate Sisters, etcetera."

Tony's face resembled one of incredulity rather than surprise as it had before while he waited for the punch line or a sign that Pepper was just pulling his leg. When her bright eyes remained neutral and her face showed no sign that she did not believe what she had just said, Tony shook his head at her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Pepper, I love you, but do you really believe all that crap? For all you know, these guys are just comic heroes of his planet."

Pepper scrunched her face, crossed her arms, and looked away from Tony. "I guess you don't love me enough to believe me, huh?" She spat back to him before thinking about her words, and when Tony whispered her name, she had to force herself to face him despite the slight red tint on her cheeks. "I, uhm, what I meant to say was…"

"Pepper, I…" Tony pursed his lips, his heart beating faster than just a short second before. He gulped down his heart that was now caught in his throat and licked his dried lips. "I want to…I need to…"

She felt his hands tremble as they slid down to her upper arms and remained there. He leaned in closer to her, his breath caught in his throat. He replayed in his mind all the times he had uttered the words that refused to escape him now, and cursed himself for losing his nerve in front of her. He knew it did not have to be this difficult; he had already told her how he felt a couple of times since her return, although the context of the situations had not been the best.

"Are you alright, Tony? Is something wrong?" She encouraged him. Her hands moved from her chest to his, laying them flat on his torso before she slowly slid them up to rest on his shoulders. Tony closed his eyes the moment he felt her hands on him and he did not open them again until her dainty hands stopped moving. His eyes found hers again. He opened his mouth to speak, but his voice declined to work. Pepper could see the struggle within him on his face, so she decided to make it easier on him.

She began by sliding her hands up from his shoulder to his neck and then to the sides of his face. The sweet touch made Tony close his eyes again, all his energy focused on feeling her skin on his. She traced his forehead with the tips of her fingers and gradually outlined every curve of his face: his eyebrows, his nose, his cheekbones and then down to his lips. Tony felt himself calming down under her ministrations, his squared shoulders relaxed and his breathing slowed down. Pepper repeated her tracing up his face, cupped his face with her hands, and then whispered to him. "Show me."

Tony's eyes opened up slowly to see her face inches from his, just as they had been back at the lab when he had been teasing her about losing her touch in her research. This time, however, there was no one there to interrupt them. His father was back in New York, and Virgil was still at the hospital. There was no Rhodey, no Happy, no Whitney, no Makluan Guardian or anyone else around to bother them. It was just the two of them, alone, together, with the opportunity make up for lost time. "Show you what?" he whispered.

"If you can't tell me yet, show me."

While her fingers had been all over his face, his hands had come down to rest on her waist. He lifted his left hand to her cheek and pulled her closer to him. Pepper responded immediately and closed her eyes and he did the same. He brushed his lips on hers like they had before, but this time the second brush turned into a short kiss. He pulled away slightly to stare at her and used his eyes to ask permission to continue, and she responded by initiating the next kiss. This one was a little longer, both teenagers worrying more about exploring every part of the other's lips in a tender manner.

As the third kiss began, their actions became bolder and more demanding. He slowly shifted her body so that her back rested against the couch. He then moved himself so that, while still seated next to her, his upper body arched at an angle in such a way that it appeared as if he was facing her almost completely. He swapped his hands so that his left rested on her side, and his right supported the back of her neck as he bent down his face to kiss her more fervently. Pepper's position did not allow her much room for her hands, so she opted to do the only thing she could do and held onto the sides of his shirt to keep him where he was.

The fourth and fifth kisses were much easier on both of them, and after the sixth Tony finally pulled away from her. He gave her an apologetic smile when she tilted her head to the side in silent inquiry. "Back's starting to hurt."

Pepper chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Being Mr. Iron Man is not doing any favors to your back, isn't it?"

Tony shrugged and held her hands in his. "It does have some perks," he took her hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "I can show you later, if you'd like."

"Tony!" She said with a tone that was supposed to be chastising, but it actually made her sound embarrassed, and it did not help her case that a blush followed her response. "You're terrible."

"What?" he asked innocently. "I meant that I'd like to show you my upgrades. What did you think I was talking about?"

_Yup_, Tony thought about his Dad's statement; they were not kids anymore.

"Whatever," she said before she pulled her hands away from him and began tidying up the coffee table. "Now help me with this. I didn't spend hours cleaning up here so that you could swoop in and make it look like your place in two seconds."

Tony took a hand to his heart. "You wound me, Pep. I'm just trying to make sure my girl has something to eat."

Pepper chuckled nervously at the term he had used with her, but realized she would have to get used to it soon. "Less talking and more helping, OK?"

"Alright, Cleaning Nazi." He mumbled as he began cleaning up after himself.

"Hey! Do you want another kiss, Mr. Stark?"

"You mean, like, right now?" He asked he stared down at his watch. "I think I have some time, Ms. Potts."

"I meant, ever again."

"What? Aww! Come on, Pepper! We just started!"

"Oh, _that_ we surely have, Tony," she winked at him before she stood up with the trash in hand and headed to the kitchen to dispose of it. Tony smiled at her retreating form and thanked any of those weird-named beings Pepper had just talked about that allowed them to be together, and for not eating planet Earth.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

After Pepper disappeared into the kitchen and his eyes could no longer follow her, Tony's pod rang loudly inside his pocket. He dug his hand inside it and took it out. A smile appeared on his face when he read it was a call from his _brother from another mother_ and he gladly accepted the call. "Hey, Rhodey! Did they give you a few seconds to breath over there?"

_"Well, someone sounds happy. What's the occasion?"_

Tony shrugged even though he knew Rhodey could not see him. "Oh, nothing, just…"

_"Pepper is there with you, isn't she?"_

Tony chuckled loudly, catching the attention of the returning redhead. She returned to her spot next to him on the couch and silently asked him who he was speaking to with a tilt of her head. Tony winked at her as he pulled away the phone from his ear and pressed the speaker option. "Hey, someone you might remember from back in school just walked back into the room."

_"What? Who?"_

The inventor set down the phone on the coffee table and pointed to it with his chin. Pepper's eyes shone in excitement when she recognized the voice and the caller ID confirmed who it was on the line. She leaned down closer to the phone and squealed. "Rhodey? Oh, my God! _Where_ are you? _How_ are you? I missed you so much! Did you miss me? How's your mom? When can I see you again? Are you in town? What are you doing for Christmas?"

Rhodey's wholehearted loud laughter resounded in the room and it was shortly followed by the genius' own laughter streak. Pepper's pout was adorable to Tony, and his arms surrounded her in a side embrace as he kissed the top of her head. "How about one question at a time, eh, Pep? It's been a while since Rhodey's brain has been strained like this."

_"Ha-ha! Very funny, Tony. At least you're laughing again. I thought you'd forgotten how to make that sound."_

Pepper's pout turned into a concerned look at hearing Rhodey's words. Tony shook his head at her in a dismissive manner before he returned his attention to the phone. "Whatever, man! But, if you're still worried about me not laughing enough, send me a picture of your face so I have something to laugh at every day."

_"Screw you, Tony!"_ Rhodey said with a laugh. _"Anyway, of course I missed you, Pepper. I can't wait to see you and catch up. I'm stuck at the academy for now, though. But, I'll be there for an entire week for Thanksgiving. What are you plans for that?"_

"I'm not sure, Rhodey. I have a lot of things to work out."

_"I'm sure. Speaking of which, is your dad any better?"_

Pepper smiled. "Yup! He might be released in a few days, actually."

_"That's great news, Pepper. Are you feeling alright? Is everything OK with you? Tony better be giving you the royal treatment for the both of us or I'm gonna have to kick his ass."_

"He's making me feel at home, so far. But, you know, he's still Tony, so…"

_"Yeah, I know what you mean, Pepper. Not much we can do about that."_ Rhodey agreed, to which Tony threw his hands in the air.

"What the _hell_ is that supposed to mean? Ugh! I have you two in the same conversation for two seconds and you're already ganging up on me?"

"See what I mean, Rhodey? Total Drama Queen." Pepper rolled her eyes.

_"I'm sorry you have to calm the beast all by yourself, Pepper. I hope it's not too much work."_

"OK, am I suddenly invisible or something?" Tony asked. "I'm right here, you know?" He emphasized his words by pointing to his position on the couch with his right index finger.

"It's alright, Jimmy," Pepper continued as if Tony had not just spoken, causing the scientist to pout and cross his arms over his chest. "I've learned a trick or two while I was gone. I think I can manage until you come relieve me of the daunting task in November."

"Oh, for fucks' sake!" Tony groaned. "I give up. This is the thanks I get for building my friends suits of armor? I was better off hanging around with Gene or Justin Hammer."

At the mention of Gene, Pepper became noticeable downcast. Her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes, her face looking away from Tony. Rhodey did not need to be in the room to realize the tension had just been amped up, so he cleared his throat to try and easy it from his distant location. _"Anyway, you two, I am gonna stop by home for Thanksgiving. I hope to see you there."_

Tony, whose eyes never left the redhead, answered his friend's implicit question. "We'll be there, Rhodey, even if it's just for a few days. Pepper now lives in California, so…yeah…" The inventor added, suddenly remembering that his father had mentioned to be mindful of the distance between the two teens.

_ "OK. That sounds good. Well, my break is up; I gotta go. It was nice talking to you again, Pepper."_

Pepper took in a deep breath and smiled weakly. "It was nice hearing from you again, Rhodey. I love you, and I can't wait to see you."

_ "I love you too, Pepper. Take care. And, you too, Tony."_

"We will. Bye, Rhodey."

The double-beep of the pod symbolized the end of the call but neither teenager moved for a moment. She sniffed lightly, trying to hide the tears that had formed in her eyes at the mention of Gene, but Tony knew better than to fall for her attempts at pretending she had already gotten over her kidnapping. Suddenly, the house phone rang. Pepper grabbed the receiver without even looking and after swallowing the lump in her throat, answered the call.

"Potts residence. Yes, this is she. Oh! Yes, I can hold."

Tony placed his right hand on her left knee and lightly caressed it, unable to think of anything else to do for now. Pepper remained silent as she was transferred to the next line, and when the hold music ended, she heard a familiar voice.

"Yes, Dad? Is everything alright?" Pepper stared down at her watch. "I was about to get ready to…oh…uh-huh…yeah…"

Tony paid special attention to Pepper's gestures, trying to find out what the conversation was about. He knew that she would tell him once the call ended, but he was afraid that whatever she was hearing was nothing but bad news.

"Are you sure, Dad? I mean, it's no problem. Tony can…" Pepper's sentence was cut off by Virgil, and after a long silence in which Tony assumed Virgil was talking, she did not attempt to finish her intended phrase. "OK," She finally said. "If that's what you want, I can do that. Yes, I'll be fine. I'm sure he will. No, we won't. OK, alright. Love you, Dad. Bye."

Pepper slowly returned the handset to the base with a loud sigh. Tony wanted to take the fact that she was no longer crying to mean the news had not been that bad or not bad at all, but her face was somewhat unreadable, as if she herself was not sure how to take the news. She finally looked at him and shrugged.

"My dad said not to come visit him."

"What? Is he mad because you didn't go see him this morning?"

"How do you know about that?"

"I, uh, asked the hospital if you were there when I couldn't find you."

"Oh. No, he's not mad."

"So, then, what's the problem?"

"Well, he said that the doctor already confirmed with him that he'll be released in two days. So, my dad decided that there is no point in going to visit him if he'll be back home so soon."

"Oh…That's odd, but it kinda makes sense, I guess." The inventor said, trying to cheer up the obviously disappointed girl.

"Yeah, I guess. But, what am I supposed to do now? The place is clean and I have…nothing to do...nowhere to go." Pepper trailed, suddenly dawning on her that her life was not what it used to be. Rhodey was at the Air Force Academy like he had always wanted, and Tony would be en route to MIT in less than three months. She, on the other hand, was stuck in time. She could not go to college, and even if she did, she had no idea what she wanted to do. S.H.I.E.L.D. would not take her in without a college degree, and she could not go to college without a high school diploma. Yet, no self-respecting high school would take her in now; she was _too old_ to be enrolled in a regular high school, and even though she had only been a few months short of graduating, she would have to wait until next semester for her credits to be reevaluated from the Tomorrow Academy to whatever alternative high school diploma program she could find in her new town.

"Well, I think you've done enough as it is." Tony said, surrounding her shoulders with one arm. "Why don't you just relax for now? Your pod is connected to my server back at home and you can stream any of the music or videos in any device."

"That sounds good and all, but maybe I should just get a job."

"A job? You already have a job at Stark Solutions, Pepper. You're my software developer and my private eye."

"A _real_ job, Tony." Pepper chuckled, bitterly. "Clearly, you don't need me anymore. You've managed without me and Rhodey for six months, and based on the review I did of your files when I was at the Armory, Iron Man's maintenance is pretty much automated at this point. I still owe you hours of software testing for the time you paid me when I was gone, but I can't rely on you for the rest of my life. I have to grow up."

"No, Pepper." He said in a low voice. "That's not how it is, at all. You don't rely on me; I rely on you. I need you." He then closed his eyes, rested his forehead on the side of her head and allowed his lips to brush on her left ear. "I need you in more ways than you can imagine."

Pepper closed her eyes and relished in his touch and presence. Up to now she had not placed too much thought on what came after the kidnapping; she had had too many things to think about and handle since she had crawled her way inside the Makluan Temple a few nights ago. Now that she had replaced her wardrobe and had moved into her new home, and having the knowledge that her father would be just fine after his close encounter with death, the reality that she felt and _was_ completely out of place in this new life was starting to hit her, hard.

_This is what my dad was talking about_, the inventor thought, his mind racing to find an answer for her. He did not want Pepper to feel as if the six months she had been absent had cost her the entire course of her life. He had not searched and waited for her for so long only to have societal standards of what a person her age should have accomplished by now strip away the inner passion he loved of her. "Look, Pep. You don't have to be making these decisions right now. I'm not saying putting them off will make them easier, but rushing into making them isn't gonna help, either."

Pepper leaned her head back so that it rested on the back of the couch. Her eyes were still closed and she took in deep breaths. Tony gave her the moment of self-reflection he knew she needed, but could not help to use his right hand to tenderly trace her face in a similar fashion as she had done so for him just moments ago. Pepper's lips parted slightly, feeling her body relax under his touch. When his fingers began massaging the right side of her neck and shoulder, she began to moan in contentment.

Seeing she was reacting to his attentions, Tony slowly shifted her body so that she was giving her back to him. He leaned closer to her, grabbed her long hair and threw it over her left shoulder. His hands then rested on her shoulders and with better purchase he began massaging the tension in them he had not been aware was so prominent. The redhead melted in his hands, her head bobbing from side to side when he found and worked the harder knots right below her shoulders, on her back.

"Is this something you learned while I was gone?" She questioned him with a tone that told him she was clearly enjoying the interaction. "You're good at it."

"Not really. It just came to me right now," he answered honestly. "Like I said before, you've been through a lot, Pepper. I want to help you get back to normal; whatever _normal_ means to you."

"Us kissing is not normal," she joked, but the reality of the action did not escape her fearful mind.

"No, it's not." He conceded. "It's _awesome_." He added with a smile, causing the redhead to snicker.

"I see we're still as modest as ever."

"I'm only stating the facts, Potts."

"I doubt that the word 'awesome' is used as an accurate description of facts."

"I'm Tony Stark; I can make it into a law if I wanted to."

To this response, Pepper could not control her laugh. She pulled Tony's hands from her shoulders and used them as pulleys to bring him closer to her. He then surrounded her from behind with his arms, just as the many times they had done so before, when they were nothing more than just friends. _Wait, aren't we, technically, still just friends?_

He had to correct –or clarify, that.

"Pepper?"

"Uhm?"

"Do you really love Rhodey?"

Pepper almost snorted in response. "Took you long enough, Tony. Yes, I do love Rhodey, but not in the way you're probably thinking."

"Pfft! How do you even know which way I'm thinking about it?"

"Because I know you were born a paranoid."

"HEY!"

"A jealous paranoid, in fact."

"OK, that's just mean."

"Not as mean as calling me a _backstabber_ when you know I'm the last person who would ever stab you in the back. I may be the former Mrs. Gene Khan, but that doesn't mean I'm like him."

_Mrs. Gene Khan. That little, son of a bitch!_ He thought, feeling how the simple statement was proving Pepper's point. _Damn it! I _am_ a jealous paranoid!_

Pepper's barely controlled yawn brought Tony back from his paranoid mental party, and when she began pulling away from him, he spoke up. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Sleep; something you still don't do much of, I'm sure."

"Sleep? It's three in the afternoon, Pepper!"

"Yes, but I've been up since very early, cleaning up this place. I'm really tired now."

"Oh? Well, in that case," he stood up with her, trying to not sound as disappointed as he felt. "I should get going. When you get up, make a list of things you want to buy and we can go shopping later on today or tomorrow. Just call me or shoot me a text and I'll come by."

Pepper stared at him, silently measuring his words. She opened her mouth to say something but she stopped herself, opting to shake her head and begin walking to the stairs. The genius was not referred to as a genius for no reason, so he picked up his pace and caught up with her at the bottom of the stairs. "What is it, Pep? What were you going to say?"

"Nothing, forget it."

"No, no. Tell me. Do you need something now? Just tell me what it is and I'll…" His words were cut off by Pepper's palm. He closed his mouth and waited for her to speak again; it was written all over her face that something was bothering her.

"Tony, why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This," she pointed to everything around her with her palms facing up. "Driving me around, bringing me food, asking me what I need…You're off the hook, Tony. You've done more than enough for me. I'm grateful but, you've got stuff you need to take care of, too."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her, upset that he was too afraid to say aloud how he felt, and at her for being so stubborn in reading his actions toward her. He had less than 48 hours to change her mind, however, and make her see and understand that he was here to stay.

"After you scared the crap out of me when you came into the temple a few days ago, the last thing you said to me before you passed out in my arms was to help you. I'm just doing as you asked."

"And you have helped me, Tony. But, you…you postponed your entrance to MIT! You just wasted an entire semester, for what? For something that might have never happened? My return, I mean?"

"I didn't waste anything, Pepper. I think I'm old enough to decide how I want to spend my time."

"Yes, but…" she sighed. "Tony, there are a lot of things about me that changed; things that you don't know yet. I'm not going to bombard you with them all at once, but I can tell you that I'm not the same person you knew six months ago." She began going up the stairs.

"Neither am I, Pep." He said as he too took a couple of steps up the stairs. "But I still care for you. That hasn't changed, and it won't change, even if you asked me to leave you alone."

His tone and words made her stop in her tracks, halfway up the stairs, but she did not look down to face him. "What is it that you want from me, Tony? Forgiveness? A hug? A kiss? A proper goodbye? Because I think that other than the last one, I've done all the others, already."

"All I want is you." The once-difficult-to-utter words just flawlessly flew out of his mouth at what he hoped was the right moment.

Pepper closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her right hand grabbed onto the rail of the stairs tightly, and if Tony noticed how white her knuckles were turning with the effort, he did not say it aloud. "Tony," she began. "I'm so happy to be back; to see you, to talk to you. But…your life will be in Massachusetts, and mine will be here. Just like Rhodey, we'll go our separate ways. It's nice to be with you on a…different level, like now, even if just for a little while, but it won't last long."

"You're wrong, Pepper." He took two more steps toward her and stopped. He did not want to overwhelm her so quickly, but he also did not want her to have a chance to run away from him so easily, either. "Your life doesn't have to be here, or mine in MIT. If we want to, we can make it work, wherever you want; wherever you're comfortable."

"What if I don't want to make it work, what then?" The silence that followed her question was long and painful, and just when she thought he had given up, Tony spoke up again.

"Pep, you're loud and talk too much, and you can be very bossy at times, but something I know you're not is a liar. Why are you lying to me now?"

"Maybe for the same reason you're lying to me. You still haven't told me the real reason why you're still sticking around."

"There are many reasons, but if you want just one, it's mainly because you haven't sent me away." He took another step toward her, reducing the number of steps between them to just six.

"What if I sent you away now?"

"I'd know you're lying to me, again." He took another step.

"What makes you think I'm lying?"

"Because I know you care about _us_ as much as I do," he narrowed the space between them with another step.

"I do, and that's why I'd rather have you as a friend than not at all."

"Who says you can't get both?" Another step.

"Experience. Gene. Axonn-Karr."

"You mean the guy who betrayed us and the one who kidnapped you? I wouldn't take their words to heart." One more step.

"They're right, though."

"They're not." He said from the step right below hers. "If they were correct then they would be here right now, but they are not. It's just you and me, Pepper, and they shouldn't have any say on what we can have together; on what I know we both want."

Pepper felt him take the final step to stand where she was, and before she realized what he was doing he pushed her back against the wall and kissed her fervently. Despite the knowledge of what had occurred to her in the past and the implications it had on her future, Pepper could not resist him and kissed him back. Her arms pulled him closer to her and he happily complied with her silent demand. His hands held tightly onto her waist, and when he needed to break for air, he only did it long enough to whisper to her. "You told me, just now, that if I couldn't tell you something, that I should show you, right? Well, let me show you again." He began kissing her once more.

The redhead could not fathom how anyone could be so devoted –and skilled, at portraying unspoken words into visible actions. Even though his hands were not roaming around, she could feel heat emanating from every pore in her body, and she could only imagine it was just absorbing what he was already radiating. If she had thought that their previous, short make-out session had been intense, she could not imagine what any future one could be like.

_No, I can't let him take this farther than he already has_, she told herself. _If he knew…if he found out that I…_

"I love you, Pepper." His almost out of breath whisper caught her by surprise and he kissed her again when she gasped. "That is why I'm here; because I love you so much."

Pepper stopped his attempt to kiss her again to stare into his eyes. The emotion she could read on them was overwhelming to her, but not as much as his next words were. "I don't want you to be former Mrs. Gene Khan. I want you to be, someday not too far away from today, the future Mrs. Tony Stark."

* * *

**A/N:** Can I be meaner than this? Wow! Major cliffhanger I have here, huh? I may work on the next chapter this weekend if people haven't lost interest in this story I have taken forever to update. I have lots of projects to complete this weekend, but if someone wants to know what happens next, I can definitely make some room for writing the next chapter. Thank you all for your patience, favs, follows, reads and reviews!


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Tony," his name was all she could utter for now as her brain was still processing what he had just said, seconds ago. She almost wished that he had immediately retracted his words, or at least given a hint that it had been just a simple joke but neither occurred. Tony's eyes were as serious as she had ever seen them, and she would have sworn that the grip he had on her tightened as if he was afraid she was going to run away from him any moment now.

And quite frankly, the idea of disappearing from his sight was beginning to sound extremely appealing to her. "Do you realize what you just said to me?" The ginger asked slowly, enunciating every word in her question to ensure Tony had time to understand what she was asking, and for his mind to replay what he had said himself. The inventor, however, looked unfazed and absolutely confident of his actions and words.

"I said I love you, which I do. And I said I want you to stay with me for the rest of our lives, which is also true."

"Tony, it's not just that…you-you just asked me to…to…"

"Marry me, yes. In not so many words, but yes, I guess did." He answered, now feeling even surer of himself than he had been moments before. It was as if the verbalization of his thoughts had somehow anchored his feelings for her, giving him the final push he had needed to put his frame of mind out there for her to understand. "Do you need time to think about it?" He added with a smirk.

"TONY! Listen to yourself! We're 18 years old! We can't be thinking about that! We haven't even started dating!"

"I'm not saying that I'm asking you right now, or tomorrow, or even next year, or the year after that. But I want to make sure that you see that this is not a 48-hour fling; at least not for me it isn't. And if you want to start dating, we can start right now."

"Oh, God! Please, slow down, Tony. Please, please…just…slow down for a moment."

Tony exhaled deeply but nodded, bit by bit realizing he was coming on too strong. He needed to see it from Pepper's perspective, because for all technical purposes, Pepper's life as she knew it had stopped when the Makluan Guardian had taken her away. At that point in life, she had been Tony's friend and loyal partner-in-crime. And, even though six months had passed, in all reality, only a few days had passed between the last time he had seen her, and the day she had made it to his arms in the armory. To Pepper it seemed as if he was going too fast because she had not been simmering in deep emotions and reflection for six months as he had. To him it was now or never; to Pepper it was 'slow the fuck down.'

"Fine," he relented. "I'm sorry I'm freaking you out, but that doesn't change what I said."

Pepper nodded to him, understanding what he had meant and feeling relieved that he was not taking her requests to dawdle in the wrong way. The tiredness that had accumulated over the past few hours had diminished the moment he had pressed her against the wall and kissed her, but after his pre-proposal of marriage, the tiredness had been thrown out the door. "Let's…let's talk about this, OK."

"OK." He agreed, grabbed her hand and led her back down the stairs and into the living room. They returned to their earlier places on the couch, but this time they were facing each other, legs under them, and nothing around them to distract the serious conversation that was about to take place. "Want to go first?" He offered. "I pretty much already told you everything. Unless there is something else you may want to know."

Pepper rubbed her temples, trying to straighten out her thoughts. So much information had been exchanged in the span of just a few short minutes, and while she was excited to hear that Tony had finally uttered those three little words she had been waiting for before she was taken, the situation had changed since then. She was no longer just Pepper Potts: Chatterbox Extraordinaire. Her responsibilities and experiences were way beyond the ones of the average, unintentional high school dropout, and while she would not tell him everything, he did have the right to have an overall idea of what he was getting himself into.

"Why didn't you go to MIT right away?"

"Because I was looking for you; I didn't want to give up. Everyone said you were dead, but I just knew you had to be alive."

The reason made sense to the redhead and she nodded. She would have never asked Tony to postpone his education just to look for her, but based on everything she had observed of him in the past few days, she could definitely appreciate how he had arrived at the conclusion that taking a few months off from school would be beneficial for his case. Besides, it was not as if he could not just afford to take twenty classes in college every semester, and not ace them with that wonderful mind of his. She definitely understood his rationality, but she did not necessarily agree with it. "OK. When was the last time you went on a mission?"

"A week before you returned. It's been rather quiet since most of the guys I used to fight are now dead, in a coma, or zombies; Justin Hammer included."

"Right," She agreed, almost having forgotten about Hammer's zombie apocalypse attempt. "It makes sense, somehow. Still no cure for that, by the way?"

"Nope. Not that neither I nor S.H.I.E.L.D. are trying very hard to find one, mind you." He was not proud that he had been putting off helping develop an antidote for the virus, but he had been devoting his attention to a matter closer to his heart.

Pepper nodded regardless of her slight disapproval of Tony's inactions to help them just yet. She knew that he had confided in many people that had eventually betrayed him, giving way to the Tony that was paranoid about placing trust on anyone other than who he considered to be his family. However, he had always come around in the end. Tony was truly a philanthropist, whether he acknowledged it or not, and inside his chest beat a heart that was filled with compassion and the need to help anyone he could that very few wealthy individuals could claim to have. "You should still try to find one, just in case. You never know."

"I know. I'll work harder, I promise."

Pepper gave him a smile. "I know you will."

The two remained silent as Pepper continued to try to organize her thoughts. Tony knew it had to be difficult to try to deal with so many things at the same time, so he patiently waited for her to be ready. After a few minutes of Pepper opening and closing her mouth, she finally sighed loudly and cleared her throat before she began.

"Six months of captivity is a lot of time to recount. I can't tell you everything that happened, but I can give you an idea. But please don't ask me to answer questions I can't respond to, alright?"

Tony frowned in disappointment but agreed. "That's better than nothing, I guess."

"Alright," Pepper began. "The Makluan Guardian, Axonn-Karr, took me to help him take back the rings from Gene. At first I refused to help him because he didn't ask nicely; he just said that I had to help him and you know I don't like taking orders from anyone." The affirmation of her rebellious attitude made him smile, and he dared to hold her hand in his, reveling when she did not stop him from doing do.

"But then he showed me what was happening on Earth with the Makluan, and I decided that I couldn't let Gene, or anyone else, use the power of the rings to do what the Makluan had been doing to other planets and what they tried to do to Earth. Once I accepted to aid him, I used my armor to help him fight Gene. Eventually the armor crapped out due to lack of maintenance, so Axonn-Karr began teaching me combat strategies and alien martial arts. I'm not an expert or anything, but it saved my butt a few times when fighting Gene. Even though Gene had all ten rings at first, Axonn and I were slowly able to take them all from him, one-by-one. Each time we got one back, the next time we encountered Gene it got easier and easier until it was no challenge at all."

The redhead took in a deep breath. She was not sure if she had somehow lost some of her ability to speak long and fast, or the conversation was just exhausting and difficult for her, but she felt the need to stop for a moment and regain her composure. "Eventually, Axonn was able to remove the Dragonseed from Gene, which was difficult to do when he still had all the rings. Our deal was that once he had all ten rings and Gene was relieved of the only thing that allowed him to wield the rings, I was going to be sent back home. However, the day I was supposed to come back –about two months ago, Gene pulled a fast one on us." Pepper sighed, the memories of the last two months of her imprisonment returning to her.

Tony wanted her to speed up her story, and perhaps add more detail to it, but he had accepted that he was going to take whatever he could from her, and leave it at that. This was the closest he was ever going to get to finding out what happened to her, and he was sure as hell he was not going to ruin it now.

"Anyway," she continued. "Gene found some sort of diadem that allowed him to control the rings from afar. Since he didn't have the Dragonseed anymore, he couldn't do much with it, but it helped him find our location and take him there. The diadem is also of Makluan origin, so it took the wearer to wherever the rings were, even if he could not use them. One moment I'm about to go home, and the next I'm pinned to the ground by Gene."

Tony bit his lips to suppress a loud growl, but he forgot he was still holding Pepper's hand. When she felt his hand tense on hers, she squeezed it back and gave him a reassuring smile when he locked eyes with her.

"Long story short: that was the first time we fought him with the diadem. For some reason, the diadem was somewhat reacting to Gene, and Axonn didn't know why, and every time we encountered him, he was better at manipulating the diadem. We fought him about two more times before he outsmarted Axonn and took us both prisoners. That's when it got…creepy." Pepper paused again and scratched the back of her head.

"Gene was convinced that Axonn had bestowed me with the Dragonseed, but I kept telling him that he hadn't. I was just there to get the rings back, not to play Makluan. Axonn did give me some Makluan powers, though, but nothing that would allow me to wield the rings in the way Gene thought I could. Though, in retrospect, I see how Gene didn't believe that I didn't have the Dragonseed."

"What powers did he give you?"

"Nothing I could use against him: strength, speed, agility. Things I could use to fight off Gene, but not enough to free myself from the dimension I was trapped in with Axonn. He never actually hurt me, and he always made sure I had something to eat and wear, and a place to sleep but it wasn't a 5-star hotel, that's for sure. And when we weren't fighting Gene, he would talk to me about the universe and how it worked and tell me stories about his travels to Earth and other planets. Towards the end I kinda grew fond of him, to be honest with you. He had his heart in the right place, but I guess he had been left with no choice but to recruit my help to stop Gene from taking over the world."

"Do you still have those powers?"

"If I did, I would've flung your butt off me at the cab." She said with a chuckle Tony echoed. "No. This is why I think Axonn didn't make it out of the blast. As soon as Gene sent me back here before the blast reached me, I lost all of the perks. It actually drained me; that's why I was so beat up when I found you at the temple."

"What caused the blast?"

"Gene, the rings, the diadem and Axonn. Some Makluan energy cluster fuck, I guess." They both laughed at her choice of words. "I can't think of another way to describe it. Axonn taught me a lot of things, but he was very careful not to teach me much about his race. I guess he was afraid I would turn on him just like Gene did with the rings."

"So, when Gene captured you and Axonn, what happened during that time?"

"Nothing and everything, at the same time. We spent most of the time locked up. I wasn't sure if we were on Earth, another planet or another dimension. It was always dark and cold. The only times I would come out of my cell was when Gene wanted to convince me to marry him. I'm pretty sure I spent most of my time in there asleep or in stasis. I don't remember eating much, or being very much aware of my surroundings."

"Why did Gene want to marry you?"

"Well, it goes back his belief that Axonn had given me the Dragonseed. Apparently, his stepfather – whatever his name was – had been able to somewhat wield the rings because Gene's mom had accepted co-responsibility of the rings from the man who would had been the next Mandarin if he hadn't died young."

"You mean Gene's dad?"

"Yup. So, in Gene's mind…"

"He thought that if you guys got married, he would be able to wield the rings again."

Pepper nodded with a sigh.

"But, if you knew you didn't have the Dragonseed, why did you agree to marry him, anyway?"

"Because…because he threatened Axonn-Karr…and you…"

"Me?" Tony pointed a finger to his chest. "Pepper, don't tell me you got married to that jerk to protect me?"

Pepper's silence was the only response he got to his question.

"Dammit, Pepper! What the hell were you thinking? You know that I can take him on! Especially if he didn't have any rings. His martial arts don't stand a chance against repulsor technology!"

"Oh, I knew that," Pepper agreed. "So at first I told him to go to hell."

"But?"

"But then he got smart."

"How so?"

"Well, the diadem is not only a way to locate the rings; it can also transfer someone's consciousness to somebody else."

"OK?"

"So, Gene said that if I didn't marry him, he would transfer his consciousness to Axonn and go find you and kill you, then kill Rhodey, and everyone else I cared about."

"Well, he could have done that anyway to get the rings without having to marry you, right?"

"No. The rings respond to the consciousness, not the body. Even if Gene transferred his mind to Axonn, it would still be Gene and the rings would have not responded to his command unless I married him and agreed to share responsibility of the power, IF I had had the Dragonseed in the first place like he thought I did. But Axonn was very careful never to do that to me. I guess he knew Gene would try to pull that off from the very start."

"But you still married him. Even if you had no power over the rings, you still married him."

"Yes."

"Because of me."

"I, well…I couldn't let him harm you, Tony. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had."

"And, how am I supposed to live with myself knowing I'm responsible for you having to marry Gene Khan?"

"I don't regret what I did, Tony. I didn't suffer much through it, if that's what you're worried about. It was worth it if it spared your life."

"And what about your life?"

Pepper shrugged. "It worked out in the end, right? I'm here, aren't I?"

"You are, Pepper, and I'm so happy that you're here but…I…I have to ask. Did Gene try to…? Did you two…?" Tony could not finish his question but he knew Pepper would understand what he was getting at.

"If he did…and succeeded… would that change your mind about us?"

"No," Tony responded immediately. "But that will get me started working faster on the zombie cure so I can revive his ass and kill him slowly, especially if you tell me he tried to take advantage of you every day you were there."

"Not at first," she admitted and instinctively hugged herself as she looked away from Tony's guilty and angered expression. "The first month after we got married he thought that just marrying him would suffice, but the more days that passed by and he didn't regain power over the rings, the more frustrated he became. When the last month began, he tried to talk me into making it…consensual…but I just couldn't do it."

Tony gulped, bracing himself for what she was about to say. He could tell it was not easy on her either, and certainly much more difficult than it was for him to hear, so he stood up from the couch, walked up to her, picked her up in his arms, sat on the couch himself, and placed her on his lap in a similar position he had done so the first night she returned and he had taken them both inside his shower. Pepper surrounded his neck with her arms and rested her head on the side of his.

"The last three weeks I was there, he tried to…force his will on me. Sometimes I was able to fight him off and sometimes I just couldn't, but he actually could never bring himself to do it. There were several times he had me where he wanted, but instead of taking the final step, he would stop. He would then apologize profusely to me and run out of the room, but he would then return the next day and it was another day of playing tug-o-war. It was as if his guilt of the day before had never existed at all. I'd always try to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen and return the next day when he was unsuccessful. The last day I was there, however, was the one day he didn't stop."

Tony closed his eyes and pulled her even closer to him even though she thought it was not possible. "He's lucky he's dead, Pepper. I would've neutered the hell out of him."

"He didn't stop… he almost did it…but he didn't get to…finish…"

"What do you mean?"

"Axonn figured out what he was doing, and when he knew Gene was in my room, he escaped his prison somehow and came into the room right on time to stop him. That's when the blast happened, and Gene used the power of the diadem to send me back home." Pepper closed her eyes and her mind wandered off to that last moment between them.

_"I have enough of you, Gene Khan," Axonn-Karr spat to a hardly dressed Gene. When he had walked in on them, Gene had had just enough time to throw on his pants, and to Pepper he threw the blanket to cover her nude form. "You have done enough terrible things to this female, and to this world. I will stop you today."_

_ "You still don't understand," Gene responded. "I want to make the world a better place! It is my birthright to rid the world of evil!"_

_ "By becoming its absolute ruler?"_

_ "Of course! There is no other way."_

_ "So, your birthright entitles you to abuse this woman every day?" The Makluan Guardian pointed to Pepper who was still on the ground where Gene had thrown her to protect her from Axonn-Karr's surprise attack on them. "Is this the way to become the great Mandarin your ancestor once was?"_

_ "I have no choice! If you'd just give me the rings and hadn't given her the Dragonseed, I wouldn't have to resort to this."_

_ "If you had been worthy of the rings, I wouldn't have had to take them away from you."_

_ Pepper was still recovering from the shock of the attack, clutching the blanket closer to her body. Gene had been so close to getting what he wanted, or what he thought would get him what he was seeking. She did not want to think what would had happened if the Makluan had not walked in when he did._

_Her shock dissipated, however, when she felt another blast land close to her. Axonn had taught her to be independent from his protection and always seek a way out, but she was so dazed and confused, perhaps Gene's doing, that she was having a difficult time telling which way was left and which was right, let alone where the damned exit was located._

"_Not gonna make it anyway," she mumbled when another blast hit near her. She knew how fiercely Gene and Axonn fought, and right now she had nothing to protect herself with. Hell, she did not even have any clothes on._

"_PEPPER!" The sound of her name made her look up to see an energy blast nearing her. The impact never made it to her, though, since Gene ran up to her and tackled her so that she lay flat on the ground. "Pepper, get out of here! You're in danger in here," he told her._

"_You mean almost getting taken advantage of by you is not dangerous?" she spat back, having a difficult time believing the man that had just tried to take her by force was now trying to protect her. "You're in the wrong here, Gene. I don't have the Dragonseed, and the rings no longer belong to you."_

_Gene's scowl grew wider but when another energy blast headed their way, he picked her up from the floor, blanket and all and jumped away from where a crater now lay. He landed them both carefully away from Axonn before he returned his attention to the girl. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I really am. I wish it didn't have to be this way. It's hard for me too, you know? The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, but like I told you before, nothing will stand in my way to become the most powerful being in the universe."_

"_The universe is a big place, Gene. Those rings are nothing compared to what else is out there."_

"_They are all I have of my mother, Pepper. I'm not stopping now."_

_Yet another blast headed their way, and Gene stood in front of Pepper before he used one of his weapons to bounce it right back. He then ran toward Axonn to continue the fight while Pepper carefully avoided any attacks as she began looking around for her clothes. She was not sure how she had done it, but in a matter of minutes she was all dressed up, but it was then that she felt something hit her squarely in the stomach, taking the air right out of her._

_Her back hit the wall behind her, and when she looked down she saw it had been Gene who had hit her. Axonn had hit him hard enough to send him flying off toward her, and while he had tried avoiding slamming into her, the blast had been too strong to fight back. Both teens landed on the ground with a thud, and Pepper thought Gene was out for the count until he wobbled his way up. He only made it halfway up before he collapsed on the floor again, and Pepper held on to him as he began standing up once more._

"_I'm sorry, Pepper." He gritted his teeth, eyes closed. "I'm sorry for what I put you through. If Stark knew about it, he would tear me apart. I'd deserve it, though, and I now wish I hadn't gone that far. Please forgive me, Pepper. Please forgive me before I die."_

_Despite the woes he had put her through, Pepper's heart still went out to him. She held him tightly in her arms and it was then she noticed he was bleeding profusely from his back. "Gene, you…you're bleeding."_

"_Please, Pepper! Please tell me you forgive me."_

"_But…"_

"_Please!"_

_Pepper lips' thinned but she nodded. No one had ever done such terrible things to her, but she doubted any other person would have apologized for them. "I forgive you, Gene. Now stop this before you die."_

"_It's too late, Potts," he said as he opened his eyes and gave her a weak smile. "Axonn and I are dying here, but I'm not letting that happen to you."_

"_What? Wait, Gene…we can still fix this…we can…"_

"_No," he shook his head, slowly caressing her face with the back of his hand. "You're the best friend I could've ever asked for, even if I didn't appreciate it until now. I love you, Pepper, and I'm sorry it ended this way."_

_Gene's lips landed on Pepper's forehead for an instant before she heard him scream a battle cry. A bright light then followed, blinding her for a brief moment and the next time her eyes opened she was in a dark alley next to the Tomorrow Academy. It was starting to rain and it was late at night, and she stayed on the ground for a long time, wondering and thinking about what had just occurred._

"_Gene," she whispered as her legs moved of their own accord and sent her on the starting point of finding those she had left behind._

"Gene," Tony heard the redhead mumble near him. She had fallen asleep at some point during their conversation and he had just brought her upstairs to rest on her bed. As he had bent down and kissed her on the forehead she had uttered the other man's name, and when he cupped the side of her face with this, she spoke again, leaning into the touch. "Gene, I'm sorry. I love you, too."

A single tear fell down from her closed eyes and with its path it carved a wound in the inventor's heart. He took a step back and stared at the girl for a minute as his mind realized that while he had said he loved her, she had never actually said it back.

* * *

**A/N:** OK, here is another chapter because you all rock, and because I won't upload one for a few days. I gotta get to work on my real-life projects, so please sit tight. Thank you for review and reading :)Until then!


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The midday sun filtered through the curtains in Pepper's room, and when the brightness hit her eyes, she had no choice but to open them up. She could not remember having a better sleep since the day she had returned, and she was sure it was due to the fact that her problems were finally beginning to get resolved. She yawned loudly and turned over to her left side to avoid the blazing sun and stare at the closed door. Her eyes then landed on the clock on the wall and she realized that she had slept the morning away; it was shortly past noon.

_I should get up._

She threw the covers off herself, sat on the edge of the bed and stretched her arms above her head. She then popped her neck by swaying it from side to side before she pushed herself off the bed and walked toward the mirror. Her hair was in disarray so she combed it with her fingers, holding back another yawn. She then grabbed a change of clothes and a towel and headed out of her room to the bathroom in the hall.

As she took the steps toward the bathroom, she remembered that she had been talking to Tony the day before, but she could not remember falling asleep. She figured he had brought her upstairs to her room, took off her shoes and then tucked her in before he had undoubtedly left the home to return to his hotel room. Her dad would return tomorrow, so she figured that today was the last day she would have to have an earnest talk with Tony about if and where they wanted to take the next level of their relationship.

Long-distance relationships were not her thing, and she knew the chance of their relationship working while she was in California and he in Massachusetts was very slim. As close as they had been in the years they attended high school together, it was inevitable that the time away from the other would eventually get the best of them. Even if Tony had been clear that he intended to take this relationship extremely seriously –and she was still freaking out a little about it and his boldness, she also knew that he most likely only thought about committing to this relationship with her as much as he had expressed because this was – for all technical purposes – his first genuine relationship. He was Tony Stark after all, and once he joined MIT, scores of much prettier, smarter and richer girls would be throwing themselves at him, proposing him things that Pepper could never amount to offer herself.

_And why would Tony Stark settle for the high school dropout with a dramatic past and pathetic future? _Pepper sighed in anticipated she finally arrived to the bathroom she walked inside and locked the door behind her. She then placed her change of clothes on the toilet cover and began undressing herself. Once her dirty clothes were completely off her and on the floor, she walked over to the sink and brushed her teeth. She had not had a chance to do so the day before and she felt as if the remnants of the dead masticated cow inside her mouth were already becoming one with her gums. A few spits later she felt much better and began walking toward the shower stall.

When her hand gripped the handle to open the glass door, something unexpected occurred around her. The light bulb in the room immediately dimmed to a comfortable level, the shower started automatically, and soft music began playing in the background. Pepper remained still for a minute or so as she waited for something else to happen but when it did not, she narrowed her eyes in deep thought. She knew that when she had showered the day before none of this had occurred, and she was sure she was still in the same place she had gone to sleep in yesterday, which could only mean one thing had changed while she had dozed off, and only one person could be responsible for the change.

_Tony_, she smirked.

She shook her head and walked inside the stall to the already perfect temperature water running down from the shower head. She closed her eyes as she felt the stream of water massage her back, and the smirk turned into a full smile. This boy was making it very difficult for her not to try to give him a chance, and while she had known that Tony was generous by nature, she had never seen this side of him. Was he like this with all the girls he liked? Had he been this attentive with Whitney, too?

Her teenage and in-love heart wanted to think she was the only one.

Her grumbling stomach made her hurry up her shower and in less than ten minutes she was already walking back to her room. Today she had chosen to wear a pair of blue denim shorts, a purple, studded, lightweight sleeveless shirt, and matching tennis shoes. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and her long bangs framed her face. Once inside her room, she dumped her dirty clothes in the hamper and picked up her pod that lay on the nightstand.

_"Where are you?"_ she texted the genius, and her message was immediately responded with _"Downstairs."_

Pepper rolled her eyes as she exited her room and walked down the stairs to find Tony sitting on the couch, legs on the coffee table, arms extended over the back of the couch, and the television changing channels every few seconds. The channel surfing stopped when he heard her walk toward him and he gave her a smile. "Hey, Pep, 20 hours of sleep enough for you?"

The ginger's eyebrows shot to the ceiling, her eyes showing that she was making the calculations herself. She did remember Tony pointing out that it was three in the afternoon when she tried to head upstairs to sleep, and their argument/conversation could have not taken more than an hour. She knew she had been tired, but she had not been aware she had been _that_ exhausted.

"I think I beat my own record," she said with a smile and a tap on her chin as she stared at him. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a light blue polo shirt, and brown suede slip-on shoes. "It's good to see you actually went back to the hotel and rested."

Tony shrugged. "Only to shower and shave." He rubbed his chin with his right hand. "I've been here most of the time," he added and patted the spot next to him on the couch. Pepper accepted his invitation and sat down, her hands immediately flying to the undone buttons on his shirt. Tony's left hand landed on both of hers to stop her from buttoning them up, which caused the redhead to look up at his eyes with a questioning look.

"Leave'em like that; I left them this way to try to entice you," he winked at her, and Pepper's giggles were quick to follow suit. Tony chuckled at her expression before he leaned down to her face and gave her a quick peck on the lips once she stopped laughing aloud. "You look beautiful, Pepper."

"You're trying too hard, Stark," she said with a serious tone but the rosy tone on her cheeks rat her out.

"And you're trying too hard to pretend you don't like the attention, Potts." He said with his signature smile that made her knees grow weak. She looked away from his piercing gaze and concentrated on watching the television, or at least pretend that she as watching it so that her fast-beating heart could return to a normal pace again.

"Thanks for the upgrade in the bathroom," she began as she watched the channels begin to change again. "It was a nice surprise."

"You're welcome," he responded and noted that her eyes were scanning Tony's hands and their surroundings to try to locate the remote. When she noticed it was placed in its stand on the wall, she raised a single eyebrow toward him. The inventor gave her another bright smile before he pointed toward his head with his left index finger.

"Extremis."

"Ah! Yeah! Forgot about that," she admitted.

Tony's right arm came down from the edge of the couch to surround her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "Is this OK?" he asked, pointing to the gesture with his chin.

"Yes, it is OK."

"Good," he said with a satisfied smile before he returned his attention to the news channel he had decided to watch. They remained quiet for a moment as they watched the anchor read her prompts for a few minutes until Tony muted the television with his thoughts. He then looked to his right to stare down at Pepper and spoke while he absentmindedly played with her hair. "Do you want to go eat out? I saw a nice place on my way back from the hotel. We can also pick up some groceries while we're at it so that you're set for when you dad returns tomorrow."

"Sounds good," she responded. "And after that I'd like to continue our conversation from yesterday, unless you have to return home already."

"No, not yet," he admitted. Other than Iron Man business, he really had no hurry to return to New York. He had not lied to Pepper when he had told her that major crime had gone down significantly since the Makluan attack, and other than some accidents or random criminals playing fetch with cops, Iron Man's services had not been needed that much as of late. "I can hang around for a few more days if you'd like."

"That'd be nice. Want to go right now?"

"Sure," he said and the television turned off on command. He stood up from the couch and took her with him, lacing their hands together and taking her to the front door. He stood in front of it but did not attempt to open it, and then turned on his heels, pulled Pepper to him and kissed her as passionately as he had done so the day before. This time, Pepper enjoyed the exchange much more than she had done so previously and even dared to touch the skin of his back under his shirt. She felt the goosebumps that were caused by her fingertips on him, and a smile formed on her lips when she heard him moan lightly.

When the kiss ended, he pulled away enough to stare deeply into her eyes as he thought about what she had mumbled in her sleep yesterday. At first he had felt his heart break into a million pieces at the revelation that she could potentially still love Gene, even after all the shit he had put her through, but after thinking long and hard – and after doing some upgrades to the home to help him distract himself – he came to the conclusion that the sentiment Pepper felt for Gene had to be the same she felt for Rhodey and nothing more.

_She said so herself. I have to trust her; she's never given me a reason not to trust her word._

And trust was something they had to work on if they were going to date while being away from each other.

Satisfied that there was nothing to fear, he had returned to the hotel to shower and change, and had set his eyes on a hotel closer to the Potts' townhome. Later on he planned to check out of his current hotel and check in to the one that was a five-minute drive from Pepper's home to make sure he was ready for her beck n' call. "I love you, Pepper," he finally told her out of the blue after the long silence, and Pepper could not contain her wide smile.

"I love you, too, Tony." She responded, and Tony's smile matched hers. He gave her another kiss before he turned to the keypad on the wall next to the door and input a code. Pepper tilted her head and then looked up at Tony as he opened the door and led them outside. She then saw a similar looking keypad by the doorknob, which beeped and went red the moment the door closed behind them.

As he led her to the rented vehicle and opened the door for her, Pepper's eyes bore into his back and then followed him as he walked in front of the car to the driver's side. He opened the door and climbed onto the seat only to see Pepper shaking her head at him with a half smirk on her face. "You installed an alarm system, didn't you?"

"Yup," he said as he started the car, not all remorseful of what he had done while she was asleep. "Among other things…"

"Did you install any cameras?"

"Only on the outside, for intruders. I didn't think your dad would appreciate an in-home surveillance, but I can always come back if he is not opposed to the idea."

"Riiiight," she strapped on the seatbelt and so did he.

"Hey! My girlfriend lives across the country. I think I have the right to make sure she's taken care of when I'm not around."

Pepper snickered. "_Please_ let me be there when you use that argument with my dad when he asks why you upgraded the house. He wasn't happy when I told him I was dating, well…Happy, and he wasn't installing surveillance in our apartment, with or without permission."

Tony shrugged. "I think your dad and I have an understanding he never had with Happy. It'll be alright."

"Oh, really? Think you're special, Tony Stark?"

"Of course I am! I am Iron Man." He answered as he began driving to the place he wanted to take Pepper out to eat.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him but smiled nonetheless. "You know, Tony, that phrase is going to get you in trouble one day."

"Trouble? 'Trouble' is my middle name, Pep."

"I thought it was 'Edward'." She pointed out.

"Let's not go there, alright?" He narrowed his eyes, knowing that Pepper was aware he was not fond of his middle name. Pepper laughed aloud and crossed her legs. She was not sure who she was trying to kid; she was completely in cloud nine; hell, she was the mayor, secretary, treasurer and single voting member of cloud nine. Who could really blame her; she was the official girlfriend of Tony Stark. Distance or no distance, she would be lying to herself if she said she was not looking forward to helping make sure their relationship worked out.

Tony deserved it, anyway, seeing how much effort he was putting into showing her how invested he already was.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper waited in the passenger seat of the car as Tony proceeded to check out of the hotel room. She had been mildly been surprised to find out about his plan regarding accommodations, but she had been extremely surprised when the phrase 'why don't you stay with me' had come out from her mouth. Tony's shocked expression had been obvious, and she was sure that she had also looked surprised at her own suggestion. She had not planned to be so forward with him, but since her dad would return home tomorrow, this was the last night they had all for themselves.

_It's not like we're going to do stuff we shouldn't be doing. I just want to spend time with him, that's all._ She was not sure what had compelled her to invite him over, but between having lunch, buying groceries, and returning to her house to put them away, something had told her that it was alright to invite him to stay for the night.

The opening of the trunk pulled her out of her thoughts and from the rear view mirror she watched as Tony dumped his bag inside the trunk and slammed it close. He then walked back to the front of the car, opened the driver's side door and jumped inside. "It's all done," he said. "Are you sure about this, though? I can stay in the hotel I told you about, if you've changed your mind."

Pepper shook her head lightly and despite the butterflies in her stomach she gave him a reassuring smile. "It's alright. I'm sure my dad won't mind."

"Maybe you should ask him first, just in case. I don't want him to think I'm taking advantage of the situation or you."

"I thought you said you guys have an '_understanding'_," she jested, air-quoting the last word. "What happened to your confidence, Tony?"

"It's still there," he assured her. "I just don't want to overstep the boundaries just yet…maybe later…" he winked at her.

"Oh, I see." She crossed her arms over her chest. "So slamming me against a wall and kissing me is OK, but crashing on my couch for the night is 'pushing it'?"

"I'm staying on the couch?" He placed the key in the ignition. "I thought you'd share your bed with me, Potts!"

"Tony!"

"Just kidding…" he chuckled and started the car before he added, "…mostly."

"You're awful, Stark." She shook her head but still smiled. She had missed their talks, even if they almost always ended with him claiming victory over the pretend argument.

"But that's how you love me." He said, shamelessly fishing for compliments as he waited for the red traffic light to switch to green, his fingers tapping impatiently on the steering wheel.

"Yes, that's how I love you," she agreed as she bent over to turn on the radio when the car was set in motion again. She then opened her mouth to say something else but the screeching of tires made her stop what she was doing and look out the window to her right. She then screamed Tony's name before the inventor echoed hers and almost immediately the sound of crashing vehicles drowned any other sounds around them.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, I don't give them a break, huh?


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

The sound of incoming sirens woke him up, and not even Extremis was strong enough to help him regain his senses quicker than he would have wanted. His eyes blinked slowly and with each battering of the lids a new set of tears appeared. He was sure he was not crying, but something in the air was stinging his eyeballs to the point his tear ducts were left with no option but to work overtime. His nose then volunteered to help find the cause of the discomfort, and it was then Tony realized his eyes throbbed because of the thick smoke around him.

_Smoke?_

He tried to pull his arm toward his shirt to pull it over his mouth to filter some of the pollution around him, but his effort was in vain when he realized his right arm was bent at an awkward angle so that it was behind the driver's seat. If he did not know any better he would have thought his arm was broken.

"Ouch!"

Or maybe it actually was broken.

Ignoring the discomfort he felt he began scanning his body for other injuries at the same time he silently demanded that his mind told him where he was and how he had wound up here in the first place. His left arm seemed to be trapped between his body and the door and was somehow tangled with the seat belt as well. He figured that at some point and for some unknown reason he had tried to remove the top part of the seat belt off his person since the only part that kept him attached to the seat was the piece that ran across his hips.

When he moved his head to the left to stare at his stuck arm, he felt the pressure of the blood in his head was not normal, suggesting that he was probably upside down. The sounds of emergency vehicles and static from radios became louder and he concentrated on trying to understand what they said. The already loud noises were pooled together with cries of people, the shrieking of scrapping metal and the faint noise of music playing in the background.

_Music? Radio? Pepper!_

Suddenly, the memories of what had just occurred to them flooded his mind, and his head snapped to his right. He could see that the vehicle he had been driving was bent out of recognition, and it was a miracle he was still alive. He could not immediately see if Pepper was now merged with the scraps that used to be a perfectly usable car but his imagination was running wild with the possibilities of what a plastered Pepper would look like.

"PEPPER!" He yelled despite the pain he felt in his chest when he uttered her name. "PEPPER! DAMMIT, PEPPER!"

He wiggled his body from side to side until finally his right arm was released from its captivity. It was not broken but it was severely bruised and covered by an armored gauntlet. "What the hell?"

Tony stared at his armored glove and remembered that it was not a miracle he was alive: it was a product of his shield.

_The moment he heard her scream his name his right hand flew from the steering wheel and aimed back towards the trunk. He knew there was no way he could get either him or her inside the suit while they were seated, but he only needed a few pieces of it to make do. He hardly had enough time to force the left gauntlet on her arm and the right one his and activate the shields. Some of the other pieces of the suit attached to her legs in the process but he knew they were not going to be enough to keep her safe. He had only seen one incoming car but the speed at which it had been approaching them was going to be enough to cause some major damage._

_ "Tony!"_

_ "Hold on, Pepper!" He screamed at her when the first impact hit them. He heard her shriek in pain when the car was lifted off the ground and landed back on its side on the concrete only to be hit again from all directions. The screeching tires and screaming bystanders made his head hurt, and that combined with the sounds of rolling cars and twisting metal gave him an idea of was happening around them._

The light was green! The light was green!_ He told himself over and over again as he tried to keep up both Pepper's and his shields using Extremis. The pile up was happening so fast that by the time he felt his body going into shock it was too late to stop it from doing so._

_ "The light was green! The light…was green…" he mumbled until he passed out._

"_Is anybody there?" _He heard someone call near him. _"Is anyone alive in there?"_

"Yes!" Tony responded. "There's two of us!"

"_Bring'em here, the jaws!_" The man said. _"We've got survivors over here."_

_Survivors_, the words struck a chord inside the inventor. _Survivors of what? _Now that his arm was free, he used his repulsor to burn through the seatbelt and metal that were keeping his right arm immobilized. In a matter of seconds he was able to pull away his arm and was shocked to see the amount of blood surrounding it. _Let it be my blood, please; only my blood._

He then burned through the belt at his hips and when he tried to move his legs, he became aware that his limbs were trapped by what had once been the hood of the car.

"_Are you still with us, boy?_" The same man from before asked.

"Yeah! My legs are stuck but I'm fine. Can you get to my girlfriend, first? I can't see her!"

"_Where is she?_"

"She's in the passenger seat, next to me."

"_Son, there is no passenger seat anymore._"

Tony felt the blood rush to his feet and the air leave his lungs. He opened his mouth to say something but his mind was too shocked to form a coherent sentence. The only phrase that echoed in his mind was the one spoken by the man outside: _There is no passenger seat anymore. No passenger seat._

_ No._

He focused his mind and began calling upon the rest of his suit with the exception of his left gauntlet. If Pepper was still alive somewhere out there she probably needed the use of the shield. It was difficult to put on the suit while sitting upside down in the car, but with very piece of the armor he was able to secure, it was easier to bend the metal off him and suit up. By the time he was done putting on the outfit, the man he had been speaking with was almost near him.

"What the hell?" Tony heard the man say when the inventor blasted his way out of the car. "Is that Iron Man?" He heard a second man ask in disbelief.

Tony was still missing a few pieces of the armor but he had on enough to be of some use. He was expecting some police cars, fire trucks, and maybe an ambulance to be around, but what he saw he did not expect.

The intersection was littered with what could only be described as _parts _of cars. Shards of broken glass, loosened doors, personal belongings and the sort were scattered all around him. He saw an empty baby car seat and he prayed – which he did not do on a regular basis as he was not a religious person – that no baby had been propelled out of it and was now smashed somewhere on the hard concrete or walls.

"Hey, Iron Man, we need help here!" Tony heard from behind. He turned around slowly and saw an SUV was merged with a sedan, and he knew those two masses of scrap used to be two separate cars. "Can you give us a hand?"

"I…" He began as he remembered he was supposed to be looking for Pepper. He scanned the area for his gauntlet and found it to be about twenty feet away from where the surviving _half _of the car he and Pepper had been driving was at.

"Hello? We could really use your help!"

Tony snapped out of his reverie and reluctantly walked toward the firefighters. "What do you need me to do?" He asked.

"We can't get the jaws to pry this open. Can you see if there's anyone in there?"

"Give me a moment," Tony said and had his computer scan the wreckage. After obtaining vital signs and measurements, he lifted his arm and used his repulsor to make two holes in the vehicles. "There are five people in there, all unconscious but they're fine. I'm gonna go scan the rest."

"Thanks," one of the firefighters said before he began crawling inside the vehicles to take out the survivors. Tony repeated the same procedure with each vehicle he came across, but the one person he was searching for was still far away from him.

_Hang in there, Pepper. I'm almost there._

Finally, after about five minutes since he had walked out of his vehicle, his scans came across the redhead under a pile of cars. "Pepper!" He called after her as he began removing boatloads of scrap. "Pepper, can you hear me?"

It was difficult to remove the debris off her with only one gauntlet, but he was afraid to call for the other armored glove while it was still attached to her hand. His search, however, became more frantic when he began seeing a red liquid trail spilling from the edges of the wreckage. He flinched as his uncovered hand began getting cut by the metal edges in his effort to get to the ginger but the pain was not enough to make him stop. _No, no, no, NO!_

After removing a crushed door he was finally able to see her red tresses sticking out from the debris. She was lying face down. He knelt onto the ground and retracted his helmet to get a better view of her; not caring for an instant if his secret identity was revealed by doing so. "Pep, talk to me, please. Come on, babe, say something to me."

"Hey! We need help over here!" The scientist heard someone behind him yell, but he did not bother to turn around to find out who it had been or what he was referring to. However, when the young inventor heard footsteps approaching him, he spared them a glance only to be surprised when a group of men and women, some of whom he had just gotten out of the cars himself, approached him and squatted next to him as they began removing the debris off Pepper with nothing more but their bare hands.

"Is she alive?" One of the women asked him as she and another man uncovered Pepper's feet.

"I think so," Tony responded more out of instinct than anything else, He did not want to just push the large car parts off her because he was afraid some of the glass around her was embedded in her body, and he did not want her to survive the crash only to bleed to death. One of the men uncovered Pepper's armored hand and Tony immediately called the missing piece of his armor to him.

"Someone get a paramedic over here!" The same woman from earlier yelled over her shoulder before she turned to face Tony and spoke to him. "She'll be alright, Mr. Stark." She assured him as if her word was law. "We'll get your girlfriend out and she'll be OK."

It seemed to Tony that news traveled fast.

Once most of Pepper's body was visible, Tony took a chance and blasted the last of the debris off her. The charred remains made a loud thud when they hit the ground as the genius carefully flipped her over so that she was face up and her head rested on his right arm. He retracted the glove from his left hand, pressed his fingers onto her neck and sighed. "She has a pulse," he said with relief, slowly removing the bloody hair off her face. "She still has a pulse!"

The sound of the incoming gurney caught his attention, and he immediately picked her up in his arms and placed her on the rolling bed. The paramedics surrounded her in the blink of an eye and before Tony understood what was happening, she was being given a quick check. Tony followed the paramedics on their way to the ambulance but someone's hand on his arm made him stop midway to his destination.

"Iron Man…" the man began, hesitating to even bother the obviously distraught teen. "Tony…" he then ventured. "Can you help us? We have one more car that needs checking, and that's it." Tony nodded to the man even though his eyes were glued to his girl for two more seconds before he followed the officer that had asked for help. He called on his helmet to return to his head and scanned the car to find two people inside the vehicle. One of them was alive, and the other was not.

"Someone didn't make it in there," Iron Man said as he began making his way through the debris. "The other person is fine."

A few kicks and blasts later, Tony was able to pull a young man from the wreckage, probably around the same age as he. He was battered and was bleeding, but he had no major injury on his person. As soon as he saw Iron Man pulling him out of the torn vehicle, the young man grappled his hands onto Tony's armor, tears of desperation running down his face. "Please, my fiancée is still in there. Please save her, Iron Man!"

Tony's heart broke in two, making it impossible for him to tell the poor man that his fiancée was no longer alive.

xxxXXXxxx

_"In other news, young billionaire Tony Stark was revealed today as being no other than Iron Man. After a vehicular accident that is still under investigation, the heir to Stark International found himself being part of and assisting in the massive rescue mission following a 15-car pileup in the intersection of Gattis Road and 57__th__ street. The cause of the accident remains unknown at this time since as all drivers claim the traffic light gave them the right of way. Surprisingly, only one death was reported from this devastating accident, and it was of 20-year old Vanessa Brown. Vanessa Brown, who had just become engaged a few days ago to her high school sweetheart sustained major head trauma when her side of the vehicle slammed against a concrete wall, dying at the scene. Everyone else reported minor injuries and are expected to make a full recovery."_

Tony, who was sitting in a chair at the waiting room at a hospital, covered his face with his bandaged hands and he tuned out the rest of the news story. One by one the survivors of the crash had been leaving the hospital they had all been taken to, which happened to be the same one in which Virgil was still being admitted. With every person that left waiting room, one more expression of thanks reached the scientist in the form of a kind word of encouragement regarding Pepper's status, a pat on the back of the shoulder or a simple smile. He had helped save over 30 lives today, but the only life his mind could focus on right now was the one that did not make it.

_I could've been him…that could've been Pepper; that could've been us,_ he repeated to himself in self-pity. The cries of pain the young man had made when they pulled his dead fiancée from the rubble were going to haunt him for years to come. He had not even blamed Tony, which made it worse for the inventor in some odd fashion as he had expected the man to take out his anger on him, blaming him somehow for the tragic misfortune. Yet, he had not; the devastated man had just held onto the dead body of the girl as she was taken to the coroner's van.

Now that his mind was clearing up, he could easily tell that there could have been many more deaths had he not been around. The smoke he had encountered belonged to small fires that were caused by the wreck, and the red liquid he had seen spilling out of the wreck where Pepper had been had been gasoline and other fluids from the car's innards.

_We could've all blown up, or would've burned alive, at the least._

"Thank you for saving us," he heard a male voice said to his right. "My family would have not made it out if it wasn't for you. Thank you, Tony. Thank you so much."

Tony looked up to watch as the man, his wife, and their toddler all stared down at him with grateful faces. He nodded to them out of politeness but then his eyes hit the floor again. He then felt the man place a comforting hand on his shoulder as he spoke once more. "We're glad your girlfriend made it. We heard she's gonna be alright."

Tony nodded again but did not say anything. He already knew Pepper had some bumps, bruises and scratches, but other than the scare she was going to go back home with him tonight, practically unscathed. The protection the shield gave her had been a lifesaver, literally, since her side of the car had been split off his side when the vehicle hit a lamppost. Tony did not want to imagine what could have happened to her if he had not called upon his gauntlet and placed it on her. The image of the other girl, Vanessa – the one that did not make it – was fresh in his consciousness with the minor adjustment that in his mind it was Pepper's face on the mangled body rather than the actual deceased girl.

"Mr. Stark?" A voice Tony recognized as the doctor that had been monitoring Pepper's progress, spoke up. "Ms. Potts is ready to go home. She's with her dad right now and she asked me to tell you to stop by."

Tony lifted his face and thanked the doctor before he scurried away from the waiting room. He walked down the hall and into the area where Virgil was, not stopping until he stood by the door. He prepared his hand to knock to announce his presence, but the fear of seeing Pepper all bandaged up kept him from completing the task. It was not as if he was not glad that she had made it, but witnessing her state only served to remind him that he had not done enough to protect her.

"_How terrible that one person died, Patricia,_" Virgil's voice came through the thin door. "_But I know that without Tony's help, it could have been much worse. Are you sure he's alright?_"

"_He is, Dad. He's had worse battles with tougher villains._"

"_I didn't mean physically, sweetheart. I meant mentally. It's got to be tough on him to not be able to save everyone._"

Tony clenched his jaw and groaned internally. He did not want to wait to hear Pepper's response to Virgil's accurate statement, so he knocked on the door before he knew he had done so. The last thing he wanted, however, was to overhear the redhead pitting him more than he was already pitting himself. Pepper trusted him with her life, and he did not want to break that trust she had him for any reason; even the reason was beyond anything he could do about it.

"_Come in!_"

Tony opened the door and walked inside, pretending that he had not been listening in outside. He gave Virgil a nod and the man returned it, and Tony felt a little bit of relief at seeing Pepper's dad did not blame him for the accident. His eyes then landed on the ginger and despite the knowledge that the retired FBI man was mere feet from them, Tony's hands flew to her face and his eyes scanned her body as he spoke. "Are you OK, Pep? The doctor said you're fine but I want to make sure."

Pepper gave Tony a smile and covered his bandaged hands with hers, her eyes also inconspicuously making sure he was alright. "I feel fine Tony. I'm fine thanks to you."

"Are you positive? We can go to another hospital if you aren't 100% sure."

"I'm fine, Tony! I've been through worse, you know that."

"Yeah, I know but…" his voice trailed as he gave her body one last look. "I'm still going to have the computer scan you when we get home."

"Tony…"

"Humor me, Pep. Just so that I can sleep better tonight, alright?"

Pepper rolled her eyes but relented. "Fine, even though my own dad is not that concerned about these little injures," she waved her hands on either side of her head. "I'll still let you scan me."

"Good. Because I was going to scan you anyway, but it makes it that much easier if you volunteer."

Virgil covered a snort with a cough, catching the attention of the two teens. "Well, I think you two deserve some rest, so why don't you go already. I'm happy to see you two are alright but I need to rest so that they don't' give me grief about going home tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of here."

"Alright, Dad. We'll be here to pick you up at 5 PM."

"I'll be here, waiting, with nothing to do." Virgil shrugged.

Pepper chuckled as she released herself from Tony's grip and walked over to her father to give him a kiss and a hug. She then returned to Tony and held his hand in hers as they both waved goodbye to Virgil and disappeared behind the closed door. Once they were out of view and earshot inside the elevator down the hall, Pepper threw herself at Tony and gave him a tight hug, finally able to show her true concern for him. "I was so scared Tony. Everyone said that you were fine but I just had to see it for myself. They wouldn't let me see you, even after I threatened to sue the hospital for malpractice!"

"That's not malpractice, Pepper." Tony chuckled and returned the embrace with as much strength as she was giving it. He patted her back with his right hand and drew circles on her lower back with his left hand, slowly kissing the side of her face. "I was worried, too, Pep. But, I'm so relieved you're alright."

Pepper nodded while still hugging him, and after taking a deep breath of courage, she spoke again. "Stay with me tonight, please. Stay with me."

"You know I am, Pep. You already offered me your couch."

"Not the couch, Tony," she said and felt heat rush to her face. "My bed."

Tony swallowed hard even though he was not sure why he was suddenly nervous about sleeping in the same bed as Pepper as he had already done so once. The situation, though, was entirely different this time around. Nevertheless, if his favorite redhead wanted his company tonight, she would get just that.

"OK, Pepper," he finally said when the elevator dinged to announce it had arrived to the first floor of the hospital. "I'll stay with you tonight."

* * *

**A/N:** So some of you might think that his accident served no purpose, but it really, truly did. It served a rather important purpose that is relevant to the overall plot of the story. Does anyone care to take a guess at how this chapter helps build the plot? I'd love to hear what you think!


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Tony input the security code to unlock the door at the Potts' residence and the sleepy redhead followed him inside. It had been a rather tiring day for the two of them, and after grabbing a quick bite to eat in one of those 24-hour fast food restaurants, the couple had called it quits for the night. It was nearly midnight, and the only thing the two youngsters wanted to do for now was crashing on any comfortable enough surface and pass out for the rest of the night. Nonetheless, the both of them were painfully aware that it was not going to be as easy as that; the night was not over for them.

The entrance door hissed and locked behind them and Pepper and Tony walked silently up the stairs, not even bothering to turn on the lights. They were both still banged up from the car pile-up, and despite their bodies screaming to just lie down, they knew they just_ had_ to clean themselves up first. The only belongings of Tony that had survived the crash had been his pod and his suit; his clothes in his bags had been torn, burned, or scattered throughout the accident site. Once they reached the second level of the home, Pepper lead Tony to the bathroom despite his protests that he had nothing to wear, shoved him inside, and then closed the door but stayed standing behind it.

"Take off your clothes, and then give them to me. I'll soak them overnight and finish washing them tomorrow so that you have something to wear to go buy more clothes." The redhead said with a tone that left no room for arguments.

"_What am I supposed to wear tonight?"_ Tony asked from inside the room as he reluctantly took off his t-shirt. _"If you want to see me naked, Potts, you better be ready to pay up."_

"I will," she answered almost immediately. "I'll be naked too, so that makes us even." When Tony did not respond and no sound was heard for a few seconds, Pepper began laughing aloud with energy she was not aware she had. "Relax, Stark! I'm joking. I'll just have you wear some of my dad's clothes."

Pepper heard shuffling coming from inside the room and a moment later the door was partially opened by a not-amused looking Tony Stark. He had wrapped a towel around his waist and he was holding his bundled clothes in his hands, glaring at the still chuckling girl.

"You know," he began with a snarl. "Just for that, I'm not putting out tonight."

Pepper's eyes widened for a moment but when his annoyed face remained unchanged, she could not hold back the second bout of laughter that hit her. Tony's eyes softened and he tried to keep the scowl on his face but after a few seconds he joined her heartfelt laughter. Once it died down, the redhead grabbed Tony's clothes from him and shook her head. "I'll be back with clothes for you, OK? Just, _please_, shower. I love you and all, but you stink right now."

Tony rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him only to open it again two seconds later. "You know, Pep, you stink, too." He began before his eyes darted to the shower stall. "I think there's room for two in there. It's just a theory, but I think we can test it out tonight."

This time, Pepper's face turned slightly red and she looked away, biting down on her bottom lip. Tony shamelessly admired his small victory as he saw her walking away from him in the direction of the laundry room. Halfway down the hall, Pepper stopped in her tracks and cleared her throat; it was much easier responding to his taunt when she was not distracted by his charming look and bare chest. "I'm all booked tonight, but maybe we can try it tomorrow."

And with that she left a stunned young scientist wondering when they had become so comfortable with teasing each other like that.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper climbed into bed after a refreshing warm shower. She was wearing her black shorts and cami pajama set and no socks, and was trying her best to ignore the side glances she knew Tony was giving her. The inventor was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt Pepper had found in Virgil's room, and despite Tony's reluctance, she had convinced him to wear a pair of clean underwear that the genius knew he was NOT going to return to the retired FBI man.

The redhead hissed when her still damp skin was pressed against the cold sheets, catching the attention of the boy lying next to her in bed. "You OK?"

"Yeah, just cold." She answered and exhaled in short breaths as she adjusted to the change in temperature. Tony turned to his left side, snaked his right arm around her waist, propped up his head on his bent left hand and stared down at the girl who was on her back. The inventor rubbed her bare, right arm with his own right hand to help her regain a decent temperature and Pepper pulled herself closer to his warm chest.

"You look good in black, Miss Potts," he whispered to her, sending shivers down her spine. She was not nervous about Tony's teasing or the fact that they were going to share a bed a tonight; she knew Tony truly respected her above all. But after being alone for so many months, stuck in a room in an alternate dimension, and being drugged most of the time while trying to fight off a potential rapist, returning to Tony's willing arms was something that made her uneasy for some unknown reason.

Tony felt her pores' reaction to his actions and the slight trembling of her body in his sideway embrace. He then felt guilty after remembering that Gene had probably done similar things to her with the purpose of forcing her to have sex with him; and while Tony had no intention of doing so, he was certain the memories were returning to her either way. "It's alright, Pepper. I won't do…I won't do to you what _he_ tried to do. I promise."

"I know, Tony," she mumbled while her face was still pressed against his shirt. "I know you won't hurt me."

He slowly rolled her away from him until she was resting on her back once more. He then leaned down over her until half of his chest was over hers; his face was inches away from her face, and his right arm rested on the side of her head. With the back of his right hand he caressed her cheek and stared deeply into her eyes as he again whispered to her. "I love you, Patricia."

Pepper's breath hitched in her throat, for the first time in her life not despising to be called by her birth name. Her father and some close relatives used it to speak with her all the time and she had never been happy to be called by it; it made her feel old. She had never believed the name "Patricia" suited her personality anyway, and in moments of anger she had sworn to her father that she would change it as soon as she had the chance. She had been fond of the name "Virginia" for some time, and its nickname of "Ginny" sounded much better than "Patty." To Pepper, "Patty" sounded like the name that a grumpy, old lady would have: _Patty, the crazy cat lady who lives by herself and makes her own clothes, _she had once thought.

Since very young she had come up with a nickname that she was comfortable with and had made everyone she could use her preferred name when addressing her. Tony had never ever called her by her real name, and she had always loved the way her nickname rolled off his tongue. However, in this moment of intimacy between them, the way he had so dotingly uttered her name just now had taken her breath away; and, maybe –just maybe, Patricia was not such a bad name after all.

Tony closed the gap between them and kissed her in a slow fashion, taking his time to explore and learn the curves of her lips. He was as exhausted as he knew she was as well, but they had nowhere to go in the morning, and other than preparing for his departure, he had no pressing matters to tend to. The sudden realization that tomorrow night he would be on his way back to New York and she would remain here made his heart ache, pushing him to pour even more of his feelings into the kiss.

He did not quicken the pace, though; he just changed his technique. He took small bites of her lips, and his tongue caressed every part of her mouth. Before Iron Man had come around, he had never cared for research. However, thoroughly delving into what she liked him to do to her and what made her shiver in desire was some research he was more than willing to perform. His father had been right on with his words: Tony was no longer a child. And at some point during the transition from losing Pepper during her first mission to where he now lay on top of her, some invisible wall had been broken, leading him to want to spend the rest of his life with her, just like this.

"Don't ever leave me, again, Pepper," he told her when he pulled away for air. "I want you…I _need _you with me. There's no turning back for me."

Even he was surprised by the words that were so fluidly coming out of his mouth; it was just like two days ago, by the stairs, when he had not been sure what had taken over him and he had spilled his feelings to her. He was not sure if it was her mere presence, her scent, or a combination of all of the above, but this girl – this woman, had such raw power over him without even having to bat an eye.

He had never been very good with verbally expressing how he felt and the memory of how he had childishly blushed when Pepper had asked him what was stopping him from kissing her during the Shockwave and Force issue they had faced made him mad at himself. She had patiently waited for him to make up his damned mind, to put forward his feelings, to lay the foundation for their relationship to grow. Yet, he had been naïve to the max. He had thought he had all the time in the world to tell her that she meant more to him than life itself – even though he had used similar words when she had walked inside his hospital room with a cupcake with a single birthday candle in her hands. It had not been enough.

"I'll think about it, Tony," she told him and for a moment he was not sure what she had to think about. However, when he remembered a very important question he had inadvertently asked a few days ago, the smile on his face could have not been wider.

"Really, Pepper?"

"Really, Tony."

He pressed his lips on hers one more time before a yawn escaped his mouth. "Sorry; I guess I'm tired, too."

"You should be; you saved a lot of people today."

"Not everyone," he added with a frown.

"You can't save everyone all the time, Tony. Besides, it was an accident. More people would have died if you hadn't been there to help."

"I still think it was more than an accident," he said. "I swear on my life, Pepper, that the traffic light was green."

"I believe you, Tony." She pressed a hand to his face. "But let's just let the police figure it out, alright? Let's go to sleep."

Tony nodded and pulled away from her, resting on his back as well before he snapped his fingers and the lights went out. He heard Pepper groan beside him and shake her head from side to side over her pillow. "You rigged my room, too?"

"Only a little." He deadpanned. "You took a long time in the shower. I got bored. What did you expect?"

"To do what normal people do, wait patiently, and keep to yourself?"

"Babe, I'm not normal. I thought you knew that already."

Pepper sighed. "All too well, Stark. All too well."

xxxXXXxxx

Her bladder woke her up some time after they had both fallen asleep, and she carefully slid her body off the bed. Tony was snoring lightly next to her, and at some point during the night he had taken off his shirt and was now lying on his face rather than on his back. His left arm hung from the side of the bed and the sheets had been pulled down to his feet, giving Pepper the impression that he was probably getting hot.

She tiptoed to the exit and opened the door slowly, and in a second she was out in the hall, closing the door behind her. With her hand she patted around herself until she found the wall and used it as a guide to reach the restroom, making quick use of it only to then realize her mouth felt as dry as a bucket of sand. She was tempted to just return to bed but the image of Tony being uncomfortable in his sleep gave her a second reason to walk down the stairs.

Using the same technique as before, Pepper carefully walked down the stairs in search of the thermostat. She wondered if Tony had also upgraded it while she had showered, but until he gave her a tour of the new gadgets he had installed she dared not to test her theory. She finally reached the bottom of the stairs and after pressing the buttons twice, she heard the central unit come to life.

Her feet then led her to the living room and eventually to the kitchen, and once inside the kitchen she walked over to the fridge. Thanks to Tony she had food and drinks ready for her, and she pulled out from the refrigerator a bottle of lemonade. She placed the bottle on the counter and then opened the drawer above her to take out a glass to pour the drink that was making her mouth water.

She chugged down the drink in no time and then returned the bottle to the refrigerator. Her next action was to find the sink to leave the dirty dish there, but then felt guilty about leaving behind a mess she could easily pick up right now. Using the small light that came down on the sink from the street lamps, Pepper carefully washed the glass. She then placed it in the drying rack, wiped her wet hands on the hand towel hanging from the wall and turned around to see the clear image of Gene Khan standing mere inches away from her.

For an instant she forgot how to breathe and her eyes widened as large as saucers. She would have sworn she was just having a bad dream or was just being delusional, but she could feel his body pressed closely against hers, and his unshaven face prickled her pores. She tried to pull back from him but she was trapped between the kitchen counter and his towering form over her, pinning her down as he had done so many times before with terrible results. The only thing she managed to do for now was to dig her fingers into the edge of the counter as it was the single most effective way to make him go away in her irrationally frightened mind.

"Gene… I thought… I thought you were…" She blinked away the tears that had been forming in her eyes and when her lids opened again, his appearance had changed. His unshaven face was now gone, and it had been replaced with something worse. His skin had paled to the point of looking as if it had been rotting for a long time, and scars and decomposing scabs marred his once perfect face. Maggots were coming out from patches of missing skin on his body, and the smell of decaying flesh hit her nose like a freight train. "Gene…what…how…"

His only response was to nearly crush her throat with his left hand, and Pepper's own two hands flew to try to pry him off her. The tears were now streaming down her face, and now that she could not do so, she wondered why the hell she had not screamed for help when she had had the chance. She was not sure if Tony was awake by now, noticed her presence gone, or if he would have even heard her cries for help, but at least she would have died with the knowledge that she had gone down screaming and kicking.

_No, I can't die… I can't do this to Tony!_ She thought to herself when the inventor's words from earlier pierced a hole in her chest. _"Don't ever leave me, again, Pepper. I want you…I _need_ you with me. There's no turning back for me."_

"T-t-ton-n-y," she croaked, but it was not loud enough to catch anyone's attention other than Gene's. "N-no…To-o-o-n-n-y!"

Oh, how she wished Axonn's bestowing of powers on her had not gone away! This could not end like this, though. This could not be the end!

She dug her fingernails into Gene's hands, trying her best to get a reaction from him but he did not even flinch. Was he even truly here, or was she just seeing his angered ghost that had come back from the Land of the Dead to exert his revenge on her?

_Why?_ She wondered. Why was he mad at her? He had been the one to send her away when the explosion had occurred. He had been the one to choose death! She had wanted him to live, for the three of them to survive, but he had not given her an option and had sent her away for her own good. "Gene," she said in a forced voice. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you died."

The grip on her loosened a little, and Pepper took the chance to take in the much needed air she had been deprived of just moments ago. He took a step back and Pepper thought she was off the hook but when she looked up to face him again, he was back to looking normal and held a Makluan weapon in his hand. "Gene, what…what are you going to do?"

His response was charging at her, and this time she had enough sense to scream.

* * *

**A/N:** I swear I am not writing this scary chapter to honor Halloween; it just happened this way. Some of you mentioned that maybe Gene had something to do with the accident, but I'm afraid he is innocent of that crime. There were more clues in this chapter, and I wonder what your predictions for the main villain in this story are. Also, do you want to know who was responsible for the car pileup? Want a clue? Here is one: "The light was green."


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The lights in the kitchen suddenly turned on and by the door stood a disheveled looking Tony Stark. He was panting loudly and his eyes were wide as saucers as he stared down at Pepper lying face down on the floor. He lunged himself towards her and skidded behind her onto his knees before he picked her up and held her close to his chest. He brushed away the hair from her face and frantically checked her body for any sign of major injury. "Pepper, talk to me," he pleaded to her. "What happened? Why did you scream? Are you alright?"

The redhead's eyes were wide and red with rivers of tears, and as soon as she felt Tony's body near hers her hands flew toward his chest. She desperately clawed her way up to his shoulders and pushed herself up to hug him, resting her chin on his left shoulder. "He was here, Tony! He was here!"

Tony surrounded her and pulled her trembling body closer to his, hoping that he could somehow provide some comfort to the obviously frightened girl. He buried his face in her neck and combed her long hair with his fingertips, randomly placing kisses on the side of her face as he did so. "_Who_, Pepper? Who was here?"

"Gene," she whispered. "He tried to kill me! He was dirty, and then he was dead, and then he was alive!"

Tony looked up from her neck and took a look around them, trying to make sense of Pepper's words. The kitchen was intact, and no sign of forced entry was immediately visible to him. There were no footprints, no broken glass, or any sign of blood anywhere. In Tony's mind, the only thing that was out of place was the shaking girl in his arms. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?" Responded a disembodied voice in a thick British accent. Pepper stopped sobbing for a moment and looked up to a black box that was above the kitchen entryway. She was certain the speaker had not been there when she had moved in, so it could only mean that Tony had installed it there at some point during his stay.

"Are there any records of breaking and entering?" The genius asked while still holding on to Pepper and mentally getting his suit ready for action if he needed to resort to it.

This time the voice took longer to respond, but Tony knew his new AI prototype was just reviewing the information he had requested of it. "There are no records of intelligent life forms other than you and Miss Potts, sir."

"Tony? What was that?" Pepper inquired, momentarily forgetting about her brush with death in the hands of Gene Khan.

"That's Jarvis, or _JARVIS_, all caps."

"What is a 'Jarvis'?"

"Just a Rather Very Intelligent System; initials." Tony clarified. "He will be replacing my old AI from now on."

"And why is it here?"

"_He_ is here to watch over you and your dad."

"Well, _he_'s not doing a good job so far," Pepper spat. "Why is he saying that Gene wasn't here? I saw him, Tony. He was standing in front of me and he had a sword in his hands!"

"He didn't say Gene wasn't here. He just said that it's only you and me here right now."

"Same difference," she said as she pushed herself away from him. Tony looked down at her and noticed she was calming down, so he pulled both of them up to their feet. She still held onto him as she took deep breaths, and he rubbed her arms up and down to help some with the relaxing gasps she was taking. "Maybe you're right," she finally said after a moment of silence. "Maybe I was having a nightmare or sleep walking. I don't know."

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged. "Do you mind if I install infrared cameras inside the house?" He began pulling her out of the kitchen by the hand and led them back to the stairs to return to her room.

"You'll have to ask my dad, Tony." She pressed her forehead against his back as she followed him up the stairs. "I'm not sure how he's going to feel about all the other upgrades you've done."

"OK. I will, and I'm sure he'll agree with me."

"Overconfident much?" She pulled away from his back once they reached her room. He closed the door behind them and turned off the lights once they both climbed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Just, please don't tell him why you want to install the infrared."

Tony frowned. He did not agree with Pepper's request to keep the truth from her father but he understood why she was asking for it. Life after a heart attack was not easy, and if Virgil was under the impression that Pepper was somehow in danger, it would make his recovery that much more difficult for him and for Pepper as well.

"Tony?" Pepper elbowed his side when he took a long time to respond.

"I won't, but I expect you to keep me informed if this happens again. If it does, and after I install some equipment around here, I can run some diagnostics and try to pinpoint where he's coming from."

Pepper nodded. She was not fond of Tony turning her home into an electronics shop or Makluan Temple 2.0, but she also did not want to worry about Gene hurting her dad. "Any chance you can add me to your server? I'm going to buy some equipment myself and set it up in my room to help with this and also Iron Man."

Tony shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Pepper. I can hook you up to my server but you don't have to do anything else."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? I thought you said I still had a job with you. Are you taking it back now because I'm seeing things? Am I not passing your mental evaluation test for Stark Solutions?"

"Whoa, babe! What just happened?" he turned to his side to face her – or whatever he could see of her in the dead of the night. "I just…I had other plans in mind, that's all."

"_What_ other plans?"

"Well, I don't have to go to MIT until January, and you still have time to start college next year, too."

"So?"

"So, I was thinking that, if you want me to, I can help you study so you can take the GED and the entrance exams for college. We only have three months but I'm sure we can make it work."

Tony heard Pepper inhale in surprise.

"T-Tony…I…I couldn't…I mean, you can't…you don't have to…"

"I want to, Pep. What good am I to you if I can't help you?"

"But, I live here, and you live in New York."

"So? There's this thing called the Internet; I'm sure you've heard of it, and I can come visit you often. It only takes half an hour with the suborbital feature of the suit."

"Tony…I…I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything…but you can give me a kiss as a down payment."

Pepper chuckled lightly before her hands patted around for his face. When she found it, she pulled him down to her and gave him a long kiss he returned with as much emotion as her. She finally pulled away and could see Tony's smile, making her feel as content as he seemed to be. She then turned on her side and adjusted her position so that he could hug her from behind.

"Good night, Pepper."

"Good night, Tony."

xxxXXXxxx

"Sir, there's a matter that requires your attention," the voice of Jarvis said in the living room. Tony had just returned from the mall where he had bought a few more changes of clothes to replace some of the ones he had lost in the accident, and Pepper was in the kitchen making them something to eat. Tony muted the news channel he was watching where coverage of the pileup was being displayed in order to address his AI.

"What is it?"

"You've asked me to inform you of when arrangements for your departure to New York were confirmed. Your jet will be ready for takeoff tomorrow at 10 AM, and a taxi will pick you up at this location at 8 AM."

"Alright. What about the research I asked you to look up for Pepper?"

"Miss Potts will receive an e-mail confirming her enrollment in Safety Cars Driving School, and also a ticket to sit at the December 18 testing session for the General Education Development exam."

"Did you order the practice guides?"

"They should arrive in 7-10 business days."

"How about the college application forms?"

"They've been sorted through and categorized by the order of interest of Miss Potts. She has stated she will review them sometime before the end of the week."

"When is the cab picking us up today to go get Virgil?"

"3:30 PM."

"What is Pepper making us for lunch?"

"Seafood soup."

"What is the meaning of life?"

"42."

"Damn, Jarvis!" Tony said as he looked up at the ceiling. "How did I live without you for so long? Where were you hiding all this time?"

"In your head, sir." The AI deadpanned, causing Tony to chuckle.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Not at the moment."

"Alright. Thanks, Jarvis."

"You're quite welcome, sir."

Tony returned his attention to the television and unmuted the channel to hear the continuation of the report.

"_Preliminary reports of the tragic 15-car pileup that occurred days ago stated that all four traffic lights granted the right of way to the entire intersection, an error that is currently being attributed to a glitch in the programming. The company that developed and maintains the software, however, has denied any wrongdoing or liability for the accident in an official statement released this morning. The family of the only victim that did not survive the crash is demanding answers and wants the responsible parties to come forth. So far, a finger-pointing game is the only action the surviving fiancée of the victim is seeing, and he is threatening legal action against the city. The local Department of Transportation's records indicate that three out of the four lights were in fact red as one – the one directing westbound traffic – was green. At some point during this transition, the other three lights turned green simultaneously, and thus the accident took place."_

"Tony, lunch is ready," Pepper said as she began bringing bowls and silverware to the coffee table.

"Do you need help, Pep?" He said as he began standing up from the couch but Pepper shook her head at him and pushed him back onto it.

"Nope. Just wait here." She smiled at him before she disappeared into the kitchen again. Tony's eyes landed on the television again and this time a pre-recorded interview with a victim was being shown.

"_Yeah, man! Iron Man just showed up out of nowhere! I mean, now we know it was Tony Stark and that he was driving around with his girlfriend – who by the way is h-h-h-ooo-t – "_ the man emphasized his point by biting his lower lip and performing a suggestive movement of his hips. _"But, anyway, I was lucky he was around or me and my buddies would've been toast! Our SUV crashed into – and I mean INTO – a car, but we all made it out thanks to Tony. Thanks, Tony! I love you, Pepper!" _The man waved at the camera.

"See, Tony?" Pepper began as she returned to the living room and began pouring lunch into their bowls. "You're a hero."

"Yeah, and apparently you're _h-h-h-ooo-t_,"the inventor said in a mocking tone and with a roll of his eyes before he thanked her for the food. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I have some competition."

Pepper chuckled, sat next to him, and they began to eat.

"_What is your theory about the cause of the accident, sir?"_ The reporter asked in another recorded interview of witnesses.

"_Well, ma'am, if I didn't know any better, and I don't, I'd say some witch or psychic, or maybe even one of those darned mutants did this."_

At the mention of the word 'mutant' Tony and Pepper stared at each other and set down their bowls.

"_Care to explain?" _The reporter asked.

"_Well, isn't it strange that all the remaining traffic lights turned green at the same time, like if someone around had just 'willed them' to do so? I mean, I was also waiting for a green light myself but, last I checked, my desperation with traffic laws didn't make me control any machines with my mind."_

"_Control machines with your mind?" _

"_Yeah, like it's rumored some mutants can do, right?"_

Pepper opened her mouth to say something but she then heard Tony gasp. She turned to her side to face him and his demeanor made her concerned for him. He was as rigid as a log, his eyes were wide, and his mouth hung. His fists were shaking and she swore some snarling was coming from his throat but he did not give her a chance to confirm her suspicions when he stood up from the couch and ran to the door.

"Tony? TONY? Where are you going?" Pepper asked as she too stood up and ran outside to follow him. Tony ignored her cries and only sped up in the direction of the nearest intersection. Once he arrived at the corner, he looked up at the traffic lights above them and confirmed one was green while the opposing traffic one was red.

"Tony, what's going on?"

"Wait, Pepper," was his only response before he stared at either side of the streets to make sure no cars were coming. The place where Virgil had chosen to buy a home was not very active, and not much traffic was found at any given point during the day. Tony's eyes then stared at the traffic light that was red and his mind took him back to the brief seconds before the accident.

"_I'm staying on the couch?" He placed the keys in the ignition. "I thought you'd share your bed with me, Potts!"_

_ "Tony!"_

_ "Just kidding…" he chuckled and started the car before he added, "…mostly."_

_ "You're awful, Stark." She shook her head but still smiled._

_ "But that's how you love me." He said, shamelessly fishing for compliments as he waited for the red traffic light to switch to green, his fingers tapping impatiently on the steering wheel._

"_Yes, that's how I love you," she agreed as she bent over to turn on the radio when the car was set in motion again._

"The light was green," Tony mumbled and Pepper walked closer to him. She placed a hand over his arm to catch his attention and tried to understand what he was doing. "The light…was green," he repeated again as he stared up at the natural flow of the traffic lights. The one that had been red was now green, and the one that had been green had turned red. Tony's eyes then focused on the red light and in the blink of an eye the red light turned green, leaving the intersection with two lights that gave both opposing traffic lanes the right of way.

Just as it had ben during the accident.

Pepper's eyes also landed on the lights and she gasped when she finally understood what Tony was doing. A second later, and after another stare from Tony, the light that should have not been green returned to red, and the lights resumed their normal pattern. Tony felt Pepper's grip on his arm tightened and she pressed her face against his back. "Tony, you… you couldn't have known."

"I_ should've_ had known," he responded as his head hung in shame. "I never stopped to see if Extremis had any long-term side effects. I…I should've ran some tests."

"And you would've looked for what, exactly? You had no symptoms that would've told you something was not right. I reviewed that data with you, remember? Everything was clear. Don't blame yourself for it, Tony. It was just an accident. We…we don't even know if it was you…"

"Seriously, Pepper?" Tony pulled away from her to point at the traffic lights. "Did you not see what I just did? The same thing I did before! I wanted the light to be green! I wanted to hurry the hell up and come home with you!"

"Tony, please…"

"NO! I caused that accident, Pepper! I put everyone…I put YOU in danger! I… I killed someone's fiancée!"

Pepper covered her mouth with her hands, unable to think of something comforting to say to him. She knew that Tony's ability to control computers was there, and the likelihood that he had unwillingly controlled the traffic pattern was rather high. Mutants had been reported to live in California, but that did not discard the possibility that the only "mutant" that could have caused this accident had been Tony.

The redhead then took a step toward him and tried to hug him but he took a step back. "Don't, Pepper. I just…I need to think…I need to be alone." Before he finished his sentence, the suit of armor was already on its way to him and was quickly covering his body. "Can you save me my lunch? It was good," he said before the helmet closed over his face and he took to the skies.

Pepper stared at him until he disappeared from sight, and she sighed deeply before she returned home. The lunch was now cold and she was no longer hungry, so she stored away the leftovers in the fridge. The cab would come by in a couple of hours, and she hoped that Tony would return before that. If he did not, she had no trouble picking up her dad without him, but if she did not hear from him soon, she would have a difficult time concealing her concerned face from her dad.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Miss Potts?"

"Can you track Tony?"

"I can."

"Can you talk to him?"

"Yes. Would you like me to relay a message for you?"

"Yes. Can you…can you tell him that I'll be waiting for him? Can you tell him I said for him not to do anything stupid?"

"Do you want me to use that exact verbiage?"

"Sure."

"I will do so. Oh, and, Miss Potts?"

"Yes?"

"Your antibiotic pills are due."

Pepper scoffed as she walked to the kitchen to pop the pills the doctor had given her to take to prevent any infection that could be caused by the accident. She washed them down with some water and she then returned to the living room to clean up. "Please watch over him for me, Jarvis."

"He just asked me to do the same of you for him," Jarvis responded, leaving the redhead with a sad smile on her face, and the fear of what Tony could do in such a disheartened state.

* * *

**A/N:** DUN DUN DUN! That is all until next weekend!


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The minute Pepper opened the front door to leave to pick up her father, Tony landed from the skies at her doorstep. He took off the armor using Extremis and sent it flying inside the house from his standing position in the front porch and through the opened door. Pepper did not even have to move out of its trajectory; the parts just flew around her without hurting her. Pepper then turned around, closed the door and locked it before walking toward the cab with Tony next to her. He was yet to utter a word but his posture told Pepper he was still beating himself up. Pepper had her doubts that the accident was Tony's doing, but convincing the genius of such was going to be next to impossible without some hard proof.

Tony opened the cab door for Pepper and she thanked him with a smile and a nod on her way in. The blue-eyed boy jumped in after her and closed the door just in time for the driver to begin the drive. Tony's left hand found Pepper's and he laced their fingers together, but his eyes were on the road staring at it through the side window. Every now and then he would sigh loudly and lightly squeeze her hand, but other than those two actions he did not speak at all.

Pepper could feel his guilt coming out of him in waves, so she rested her head on his shoulder, snaking her left arm around his left one. He acknowledged her comforting gesture by kissing the top of her head before returning his gaze to the road. Pepper closed her eyes and remained quiet throughout the rest of the drive to the hospital, knowing that the scientist needed time to himself.

Once the cab arrived at its destination, Tony gave the cabbie a $50 to wait for them while they got Virgil, and the driver gladly accepted the proposition. The inventor opened the door and held it open for Pepper and they both walked hand-in-hand inside the reception. To their surprise, Virgil had already checked himself out and was sitting by the entrance, dressed up and ready to go in a wheelchair.

"Dad!" Pepper ran toward Virgil with Tony in tow. The young scientist almost tripped on his own two feet with the sudden pull from Pepper's grip, but he never let her go. He slammed on the breaks just in time before he could hit her back and shook his head behind her. Virgil, who had witnessed the entire scene, gave Tony a sympathetic look that seemed to say: _I'm sorry for your duty, kid!_

Now that they were standing next to the former FBI man, Pepper let go of Tony and jumped into her father's arms, happy to see him up and about. "What are you doing down here already? Are you supposed to be out so soon? Did you get all your belongings back? Did you check that they were yours? Sometimes these places trade them for fake stuff, especially jewelry. Did they give you your medicine? Are you ready to come back home?"

Virgil again stared at Tony as if asking for help, but the boy only chuckled lightly and shrugged, as if saying: _It's your turn to deal with it._

"I'm fine, Pepper. Yes, I got all my belongings, and yes they are all mine. No, I don't have to take any medicine, and yes, I can't wait to come back home. In fact, I want you to meet someone who's coming home with us." He said as his palm pointed to a tall brunette that was standing next to him. Pepper's gaze landed on the woman –who was around the same age as Virgil – and she looked at her up and down with piercing narrowed eyes until Tony cleared his throat to stop the redhead from giving the woman a death-glare.

"Hi, Patricia," the woman extended her hand toward Pepper. "I'm Marsha; your dad has told me so much about you."

Pepper's eyes flew from her father to the newcomer's still expecting hand. After a tug from Tony's hand, Pepper reluctantly shook hands with the woman while a sing-song of _"Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!"_ echoed in the redhead's mind.

"My friends call me, Pepper," the girl clarified as the handshake broke. "But since I've never heard of you, I guess you can't call me that."

"Pepper!" Virgil spat. "I'm sorry, Marsha. Pepper just came back, like I told you, and I haven't had a chance to tell her about you."

"It's no problem. We'll have the chance to get to know each other, right?" Marsha asked with a hopeful smile which Pepper did not return, making the poor woman even more comfortable than she already felt. "So, who is this strapping young man?" the woman asked when she realized she was yet to pay attention to the boy with Pepper. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you don't know who Tony Stark is."

"T-Tony Stark?" Marsha barely got out as her eyes went wide in realization. "YOU'RE _the _Tony Stark?"

"Hi, nice to meet you," Tony extended his hand and she shakily took it with both. "Oh, my gosh! It's such an honor! I'm a fan of yours and your father's inventions! Your miniaturized particle accelerator is amazing!"

If Pepper had not liked the woman at first, she now hated her. Before Tony could say anything else, Pepper cleared her throat, turned around on her heels, and began dragging Tony with her toward the door. "The cab is waiting."

"Cab?" Marsha asked. "I thought I was driving all of us back home?"

Tony flinched internally when he heard Pepper's light gasp. She then turned around and pulled Tony out of the way and walked up to Virgil. "What's going on, Dad?"

Virgil gave Marsha a nod and a second later she and Tony were walking out of the hospital to relieve the cab driver of his wait. The FBI man waited for him and his daughter to be alone before speaking again. "Look, Pepper, a lot of things happened when we thought you were gone."

"Clearly," she crossed her arms over her chest. "You seem to have looked for something to do while I was gone, huh?"

"Pepper, it's not like that."

"So, what's it like? Because all I can see is that this stranger called your house her home."

"Listen, Patricia. Marsha and I have been seeing each for the last three months. I met her in grief counseling and we've been dating since. Before I found out about you from that news report, I had just asked her to move in with me and she accepted."

Pepper's mouth went agape. "You-you…move in? As in _live_ with us?"

"Yes."

"Are you insane?" Pepper threw her hands in the air. "You've just met this woman!"

"Sweetheart, at my age, the concept of time and dating is different than when you're a teen."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. I know it's hard to believe but, how long did it take for you and Tony to start going out?"

"We…uhm," she began. "We…ah," she swallowed hard. "What?"

"Well, it's clear the two of you are now dating, unless you hold hands with all your guy friends."

Pepper's eyes landed on her right hand and she realized that she had just assumed her dad would not read the obvious signs that she and Tony were now an item; an assumption that was stupid in the first place. "That's completely different," she defended herself. "Tony and I have been friends for years. You've known her for three months."

"Like I said, it's different for us old people," he smiled. "Can you at least give her a chance?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really," he said with another smile.

Pepper exhaled deeply and shrugged. "Whatever, I guess, but she can't have my room," she added as she began pushing the wheelchair toward the exit.

"That's all right; she's staying in mine."

"NO!" Pepper spat. "She can have my room! I'll sleep outside!"

xxxXXXxxx

"Are you seriously going to sleep outside, Pep?" The redhead heard her boyfriend ask as he walked out the front porch of the home and sat on the steps next to her. "Aren't you taking this a little bit out of proportion?"

"Did my dad approve all of the upgrades?" She asked him, ignoring his question as her eyes stared into space.

"Yup; gave him the tour and everything. I'm installing the infrared next weekend when I come see you again."

Pepper hugged her legs closer to herself and rested her chin on her knees. "How are you feeling?"

Tony shrugged. "Like a murderer."

Pepper lifted her face slightly so that she could shift it to stare at Tony while still resting the side of her face on her knees. "You're not one, Tony. It was an accident; an accident we still have to confirm."

"What's to confirm, Pepper?" He rested the weight of his head on his left hand, partially mimicking Pepper's position. "I wanted the light to change, so I did it, and I should turn myself in."

Pepper straightened out her back and her eyes went wide. "Are you kidding? What are you going to tell people? That you think you hate traffic lights and tell them what to do?"

"Not in so many words, but yes."

"OK, at the risk of sounding like the most selfish person in the world, I have to ask: what about me?"

"What about you? You didn't do anything wrong."

"And if you turn yourself in, I'll probably never see you again. I may have not done anything wrong, but I'm still going to be punished."

Tony's head hung and it was now his turn to rest his chin on his knees. "And that guy is never going to see his fiancée again."

"And because of that I have to resign myself to never seeing you again? Turning yourself in won't bring back Vanessa, and you don't have enough proof yet that it was actually your fault. It could have been a coincidence; a very infinitesimal one, but still a coincidence."

"You're right; you do sound selfish," Tony said with a sad smile. "But I'm selfish, too, and I don't want to be away from you."

"Well, how about this? Give us some time to analyze the data and rule out any other possibilities. If we both agree that there is no way it wasn't your doing, then we'll talk to the cops about it…after we talk to Roberta."

Tony thought about Pepper's suggestion for a few minutes, and the girl silently stared at him knowing he was giving her idea some substantial thought.

"OK, Pepper." He finally accepted. "But if I end up in jail for murder, you can't get mad at me."

"I won't….as long as I get conjugal visit rights." She smirked.

"Conjugal visits? Pep, we'd need to be married for…oh…ah! I see. Getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we, Potts?"

"You're the one who brought up the option first, or have you forgotten about it?"

"Not at all," he chuckled. "The offer still stands," he winked at her. He then leaned closer to her and hugged her from the side with his right arm. Pepper relaxed under his embrace and closed her eyes. A comfortable silence fell upon them and Pepper had no problem sleeping outside if it entailed remaining in the young scientist's arms all night long.

The thought of seeing Tony leave tomorrow – although it was a day later than what had been originally planned – and then having to adjust to her new life on the West coast without him made her cringe. Not only would she not have him nearby every day, but she now had to also learn to share a home with Marsha Ray. So far, the woman had not done anything that Pepper could use as a legitimate reason to dislike her – well, other than being a Tony fan – but, then again, she had only been around her for a handful of hours.

"Tony?"

"Pep?"

"Since your mom…" she faltered. "Since she, well…you know."

"Died."

"Yeah," Pepper said, feeling uneasy with using the actual word since she was not sure how much the topic affected Tony. "Has your dad ever tried dating anyone, that you know of?"

"You know, I never paid much attention to that," he said with all honesty. "But now that you mention it, no, not really. I remember spending a lot of time with him while I was growing up, and between me and the company…I guess he never really had the time."

"Did you want him to?"

"I probably wouldn't have known it was going on."

"What? I don't believe that. I mean, not that I have the hots for your dad or anything, but he's very easy on the eyes. I'd think gazillions of women would've tried becoming your new mom."

"If they did, my dad never let me find out about it. Hell, _I_ didn't even start dating until I started going to school, and so far it's only been Whitney and you."

"So far?" She teased, and Tony rolled his eyes.

"What about you?"

"Happy and you…so far," she added the last part with a sly smile.

"In your case," he said, clearing his throat. "That's as far as you're going, Miss Potts. I'm taking you off the market."

"Or so you say, Mister Stark."

"Mister Stark," Tony repeated. "I like the sound of that."

"You would," she shook her head. "Anyway, what do you think about Marsha?"

"I think she's a brilliant scientist. She's actually done work with Dr. Reed Richards."

"Really?" Pepper groaned. "Well, that's going to be hard to argue against."

"What? You don't like her?"

"Would you like a woman your dad suddenly tells you he's dating and moving in with him?"

Tony shrugged. "It's different."

"Why? Because you're a guy?"

"Not only that, but I haven't lived with my dad in a while, and by this point I think he deserves to have someone in his life other than just me."

"You're right," Pepper said. "It _is_ different. I'm a girl, still live with my dad, and he doesn't need anyone else but me."

"That's a little bit hypocritical, don't you think, Pep?"

"Hypocritical, why?"

"Well, you say your dad doesn't need anyone else but you, but you have me. Where does that leave your dad?"

Pepper pulled away from Tony and she narrowed her eyes at him when she realized she could not think of a good argument against his. "I hate you, Stark."

Tony smiled widely at her, knowing there was nothing else that needed to be said.

xxxXXXxxx

Tony lay on his left side on the couch in the Potts' living room, one arm under his head. He had found a documentary that only someone like he would be interested in watching after Pepper had said goodnight and had gone up to her room. The home had been quiet for a couple of hours, leaving Tony to think that everyone was already asleep, but when a glass of scotch was placed in front of his face, Tony looked up to see Virgil holding out the beverage to him.

"Do you want me to hold it?" Tony asked as he grabbed it and sat up straight, Virgil sitting next to him.

"Do you drink?" The man asked as he took a sip of his own similar drink he had in his hand.

"Typically, no," Tony admitted as he stared at the mix of mineral water, ice and scotch. "My dad and I sometimes drink during the holidays, but other than that, not really."

"Good," Virgil noted. "Last thing I want is my little girl marrying a drunkard."

Tony nearly dropped his drink but was able to catch it before it slipped his now sweaty hands. Suddenly, taking a sip from the drink was not such a bad idea, so he took two. "It's strong," Tony said as he felt the burning sensation crawl down his throat.

"I don't use much mineral water. It's mostly scotch." Virgil took another gulp of the drink.

"My dad drinks it without any diluting, but I can't handle much of it."

"Good thing you don't have to drive or fly yourself home tomorrow, then."

Tony chuckled. "Just make sure I don't leave in my pajamas," Tony joked and pointed to his current attire. "Or without any shoes."

"Shoes? Walking barefoot is not that bad, Tony."

"No, it's not. But if Pepper sees my feet getting dirty or calloused again, she'll drag me back to the salon to get another pedicure." Tony knew the memory of having toe separators on his feet deserved another two more sips of the nasty drink, but it was not until Virgil started laughing that Tony realized he had shared a little bit too much information with the man. "I mean… uh…"

"Too late, Tony. It's already out in the open."

"Dammit," Tony snickered. "My next invention should be a memory eraser."

"Like the ones in the movie?"

"Perhaps," Tony shrugged and swallowed down more of the liquid, mostly due to it still being in his hand.

"You'd do it, too." Virgil agreed. "You're a very bright young man, Tony, with an even brighter future ahead. Do you have it all figured out, what you want to do?"

"Some things," Tony chugged down three more sips. "Some I'll think about them when I have to."

"Such as?"

"The company," he placed the now half-drunk glass on the coffee table. "I know my dad's intention was for me to take over when I was 18 – if he wasn't around – 21 if he was. But now that I have my own company, I'm not sure if I'm even interested in doing that. I like my little company just fine."

"What about college?"

"Starting in January. I should be out of there in 3 years, tops."

"Then?"

"Continue growing Stark Solutions; dedicate my time to finding ways to help people."

"What else?"

Tony shrugged again. "That's about it."

Virgil nodded silently and drank down the remainder of the drink before he too placed his empty glass on the coffee table. "It's funny that you didn't mention Pepper."

"Don't have to. She's there through it all."

"Is that what she wants?"

"She hasn't told me she doesn't want to. She's very good at what she does, and I don't see her anywhere else other than with me, running Stark Solutions together."

"And, what if she doesn't want that?"

"Then, we'll adjust."

"Pepper has a difficult time adjusting."

"Tell me about it," Tony smiled. "But we've been through worse. I think we can survive a change of career every now and then."

"What about twenty?" Virgil asked and Tony's eyebrows flew to his forehead.

"Twenty?"

Virgil nodded. "Has Pepper ever talked to you about her mom?"

"Not really," Tony admitted. "I haven't asked much either, but I'd figure she's tell me when she's ready."

"Well, Julia, Pepper's mom, was so much like Pepper. Not just physically, but in spirit, too. In the ten years we were together, she must have changed careers a million times."

"Really? How come? Did you guys travel a lot?"

Virgil shook his head. "Not really. She was just so unpredictable like that, but just with interests, mind you. She was very much focused when it came to our family, and when Pepper was born she stopped doing everything else and decided to be a stay-home mom. She only got to do it for three years before she passed, but that had been the most concentrated I had ever seen her since we met in high school."

"You met in high school?" Tony asked, the parallels between them not lost to the inventor.

"We were sixteen, dated in high school and then through college. Graduated, got married and then Pepper came around." Virgil said in a voice that became lower and lower until it stopped. He remained silent for a minute while his mind flooded with images of the good times he, Julia and Pepper had had, before speaking again. "The FBI is the only job I'd ever had. But Julia was all over the place. You seem to have already set a path, and it implies having your job – your company – as your only occupation. Do you think that your straight road is ready for the winding one Patricia may have?"

Tony considered Virgil's words carefully and silently. The nature of his business did not specifically require him stay put in one place, but he too wanted to have the sense of stability that came from coming home to your family at the end of the day. "I don't think I can make that decision without consulting with Pepper, first." Tony finally said.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Virgil smiled. "That's what made my marriage with Julia work."

"I'm committed to Pepper, sir, if that's what you're worried about."

"I was," Virgil admitted. "But not anymore. I don't think someone who wasn't serious about dating my daughter would have gone through the trouble of installing a state-of-the-art security system in my house."

Tony nodded and his eyes landed on the two glasses of scotch on the coffee table and frowned. "You know, I should've installed a Pepper-proofed safety mechanism."

"What, why?"

"We forgot to use coasters," Tony responded as he took off one of his socks and began drying the wet coffee table, and knowing Pepper despised seeing condensation rings on any furniture.

"Aw, shit," Virgil mumbled as he grabbed the two glasses and wiped the bottom of them on his pajama pants. "Any chance she won't notice it tomorrow?"

"As long as it is after I leave, who cares?" Tony joked.

"Tony," Virgil said as he stood up and began walking to the kitchen to drop the glasses in the sink. "I think you'll fit right in," he added before leaving the scientist to his thoughts of angry redheads chasing him in the street with a mop.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N:** Hello, my Faithful Readers! I have good news and bad news for you. The good news: you get two chapters in one weekend, yay! The bad news: I won't be posting anything for at least two weeks. Why? Because it's going be very busy for me for the next couple of weeks with the closing of some major projects at work, so yeah… I hope you all return for the next installment :) I always like hearing from you, even if I don't respond to all reviews ^_^

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Despite her plea and denials with her father, Pepper had ended up taking Marsha out to the mall. Virgil had insisted that they needed to bond, and Pepper had insisted it was not needed. When Virgil had offered to let her borrow the car so she could practice for her driving lessons, Pepper had groaned, called her father manipulative, grabbed the keys from him and driven the brunette to the shopping center.

Throughout the entire time, the woman had tried to make small talk with the redhead but she had only spoken in one or two sentence answers. She tried to pay attention to the road and use such as an excuse for her demeanor, but she knew she was lying through her teeth; Pepper had already learned how to drive a car with Rhodey and Tony's help. The driving school course was just a formality to make the process easier for her.

After walking around the shopping center for an hour, and now sitting at the food court at the mall, Pepper remained silent and pensive. She was sitting in a chair at the same table as Marsha, but there had been very little conversation happening between them. Pepper's side of her face rested on her upturned left hand, and she chewed on the straw of her now empty drink.

Her mind was working on overdrive trying to find answers to the many problems she was currently facing. She had been on edge at night thinking about Gene, who was yet to show his horrible face again. She was also constantly monitoring her dad to make sure he did not fall ill on her. During the day she was hard at work upgrading Tony's software and randomly designing algorithms that could potentially help her prove that Tony had not caused the accident downtown, and in between all of this she was attending driving school, filling out college applications, studying for the GED and avoiding Marsha as much as possible.

This had been potentially the longest week for the redhead, ever.

"I can see why Tony likes you so much," Marsha said before taking a sip of her hot tea. Pepper stared at her for an instant before her eyes looked at anything else other than the brunette.

"I'm usually not this quiet around him, if that's what you mean. He can attest that I never shut up."

Marsha chuckled softly and shook her head at the girl. "I didn't mean that. I meant that I can tell how smart you are. It must be a turn on for him."

Pepper raised a single eyebrow and stopped chewing on her straw for a moment before she rolled her eyes at the woman. "For Tony to consider anyone smart you need to have found the cure for cancer or something like that. Compared to him, only a handful of people in the world are smart, and I'm not in that little exclusive club of super-brained people."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Marsha began. "Your dad has told me some of the very impressive things you've done so far; some of which I couldn't do myself until I got my graduate degree."

Pepper shrugged and began tapping the fingers on her right hand on the table. "Tony's a good mentor. Anything that I did that impressed you was probably overseen by him."

"He may be a good mentor, but people like him don't waste their time teaching their knowledge to people who won't appreciate or won't be able to understand them in the first place. He saw the same potential in you that I see, and it wouldn't surprise me if he found it to be rather intriguing that a girl your age was not deterred or intimidated by his brilliant mind."

"I think you're reading too much into it," Pepper argued. "He was just surprised that a girl his age wasn't throwing herself at him."

"Maybe," Marsha agreed. "Why _didn't_ you throw yourself at him? Didn't you go to the same school, every day, for a long time? Virgil told me that you and he used to hang around before and after school all the time."

"His money and fame don't impress me. I don't care for that," she answered truthfully. Despite the teasing she always gave to Tony regarding his limousine and other items that she compared to Gene's and Justin Hammer's, Pepper truly did not care if he owned expensive or glamorous items or not.

"Then why did you stick around? Surely it was not only for his intelligence or looks."

Pepper stared at Marsha with an unreadable face as if gauging the true intentions of the conversation. Tshe look the woman was receiving from the girl was slowly becoming uncomfortable, and when Marsha thought Pepper was not going to answer her question and she would get yelled at instead, the redhead surprised her with a calm response.

"He was lonely, and I know what it feels like to be alone. He needed a friend – an honest friend – someone who didn't judge him by what everyone thought of him. His dad had just died, and he had no mom. I lost my mom, so I knew what it was to lose a parent, and he had lost both. He needed a brutally honest and supportive friend, not a crazy fan."

Marsha nodded and took another sip of her drink. Right when she was about to speak again, thinking that Pepper was done, the girl surprised her yet again with an afterthought.

"Besides," Pepper began with a smile playing on her lips. "The gorgeous blue eyes don't seem to hurt."

Marsha giggled at this. "Wait until he uses them to stare at you to tell you he loves you," Marsha joked but when Pepper's face became red, the woman's chuckle turned into a loud laugh. "Oh, I see you already know a little about it, then."

Pepper looked away, trying to contain her laughter, but the more she tried the more difficult it became. She finally resigned to shake her head and join the brunette, who was still laughing hysterically at Pepper's response. Once they recovered their wits, Pepper felt a little bit better about having to hang around the woman; maybe she was as nice as her dad kept telling her.

"Hey, so, you worked with Dr. Richards, right?"

"Yup, I did. Do you know him?"

"Not really," Pepper admitted. "How cool are you with him?"

"As a popsicle. Why?"

Pepper smiled and leaned forward to whisper to Marsha. "Do you think he might be interested in going out on a date?"

xxxXXXxxx

Tony arrived at the Potts' residence Friday afternoon to be surprised with the fact that his girlfriend was not home. She and Marsha were yet to return from the mall, and Tony went into panic mode. However, a simple text message from Pepper eased his worries and later on the redhead and the brunette walked inside the living room to see Tony and Virgil watching television together; this time without alcohol and with coasters for their sodas.

"Pepper!" Tony said when the door opened to reveal his freckled girl, and the teenager smiled widely back at him. Marsha nudged Pepper with her elbow to remind her of a certain conversation they had just finished having regarding the young couple's activities and Pepper chuckled.

Marsha then walked toward the couch to sit next to the FBI man and gave him a kiss. Tony reached Pepper at the door, kissed her cheek and rested his hands on her waist. "Did you have fun? Everything OK?"

"Peachy," Pepper said with honesty. "I saw a little festival in a park on our way here. Do you want to go?"

Tony was visibly surprised by the sudden invitation but nodded nonetheless. "Right now?"

"Yes, unless you have something better to do."

"Not really; I already installed the infrared. Walk or drive?"

"Walk," she responded. "It's only, like, five blocks from here."

"OK, will your dad…"

"Just go already," Virgil interrupted Tony's question with a wave of his hand. "I'll leave the door unlocked," Virgil joked as he adjusted his position on the couch to place his arm around Marsha and the brunette settled in his embrace.

"We'll be back later, Dad, Marsha" Pepper said and waved goodbye at both adults before dragging Tony out the door. The genius was suspicious of her actions but decided not to think much of it, especially when he saw how relaxed and happy she appeared to be. Pepper then held Tony's right hand in hers and they took their time walking to the festival Pepper had mentioned.

"I heard you spent all day with Marsha today. How did it go?"

"At first it sucked," the redhead confessed, earning a sympathetic look from the boy. "But, by the end of it I actually had fun."

"Really?" Tony was taken aback. "What did you do? Try to kill her and almost succeed?"

Pepper lightly smacked Tony's shoulder with her left hand and the scientist pretended to be in pain because of it. "Well, I couldn't very well do it at the house since you installed a private HAL 9000; too many witnesses."

"His name is Jarvis, not HAL. And he's nothing like that crazy AI."

Pepper shrugged and tipped her head to the side. "The accent is rather sexy, I must say."

"You don't say, love?" Tony began in a perfect British accent, causing Pepper to stop in her tracks to stare at the smiling boy. "I didn't know a fit bird like you fancied the British chaps."

"Fit bird? I hope that means something better than what it sounds like. And, I didn't know you could do a British accent."

"Why do you think I gave it to Jarvis?" His accent continued.

"OK, stop it, Tony." Pepper said with a light blush. She really, _really _liked the accent.

"Stop what?" Tony insisted with a sly smile.

"You know what! Stop talking like that!" Pepper spat as she took a step back and tried to pull her hand away from his but he tightened up his grip on her and pulled her even closer to him.

"But, I thought you liked it?" Tony whispered to her, refusing to give up the accent. "Say, I've been around you for about ten minutes and you're still to give me a snog. Why is that? I thought I was your bloke?"

"Tony! That's enough."

"Enough waiting, you mean? I'll say! It's been a whole bloody week!"

"You're going to pay for this," Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "You're going to pay BIG time, Stark."

"Worth every second, love," Tony said before finally kissing Pepper at least four times.

He always liked the number four.

The number four was good to him; it was the number of stores he had gone to in order to find the present he was hiding in his jeans' back pocket.

xxxXXXxxx

The small festival only had half an hour to go before ending by the time the two teens arrived, but Pepper and Tony remained in the park after everyone else had already packed up and gone. Neither of them was worried about the time or how late it was, and since Pepper was yet to receive an angry call or text from her dad, she figured they were not in trouble at all.

For a while, Tony had lightly pushed Pepper in one of the swings, his hands on hers and hers around the chains that held the contraption together. Pepper had told him the details of her outing with Marsha, and how it turned out that she was not as bad as she had initially thought her to be. Tony had just listened to her talk about one topic or another, patiently waiting for the moment to strike.

Finally, after Pepper became bored of the swings, the couple walked down the path toward the exit of the park until something caught Pepper's eyes. She pulled the scientist with her to a tree nearby to examine a carving of a heart with two names inside. Pepper chuckled and shook her head, silently admiring the silly use of the bark. "I didn't know people still do this," Pepper traced the carving with her free hand. "It's so old school."

"Some people are old school, Pep." Tony said as he let go of her hand, hugged her waist from behind, and rested his chin on her right shoulder. "Those people in that chick flick you made me watch _were_ old school."

"It wasn't a chick flick, Tony," Pepper said as she continued to stare at the tree. "It was a romantic comedy."

"A.K.A. chick flick." Tony argued. "I didn't even think you liked those, Potts."

"I do; some of them, at least. Any girl likes at least one."

"They're pretty silly, if you ask me."

Pepper turned around on her spot so that she was now facing Tony, and the genius slowly pressed her back against the large tree trunk.

"Why are they silly?" She asked.

"Because they set high expectations of us that no normal guy can ever meet."

"Are you saying chivalry is dead?"

"No. But singing a song during a school football practice is so not the norm with us guys."

"But faking a British accent is the norm?"

"If the girl likes it," Tony said with an accent and Pepper pouted. "Don't kill me, that was all of it for now," the genius continued in a regular accent.

"Well, I don't expect you to sing to me anywhere, Tony, if that's what you're worried about."

"Good, I can cross that off my list of things I hope I never have to do," Tony joked and Pepper giggled. "But," the boy continued. "I did pick up an idea from all those corny movies you tortured me with."

"What is it?"

"Well, this," Tony began as he took his left hand to his back pocket and took out a handkerchief. He then pulled away from Pepper and with his other hand unfolded the fabric to reveal a simple but stunning silver ring. "I think they called it a _promise ring_, right?"

Pepper's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as Tony took her right hand and placed the piece of jewelry on her ring finger. "The sales lady told me that since I'm not asking you to marry me within two years that you should wear it on the right hand. She also said to ask for it back if we break up, but I guess we don't have to worry about that, huh?"

Pepper was still unable to say anything, her eyes glued to the ring. Tony smiled at her and pulled her right hand up to his lips, kissing it lightly over the ring. "What if we just leave it as me taking the ring back if this doesn't work out, without me having to say the phrase 'break up'? It sounds awful, doesn't it?"

The redhead swallowed hard and finally found her voice. "Tony, are…are you sure about this?"

"Do you really have to ask? What does it take to make you believe me?"

Pepper shook her head. "Nothing, I…I believe you, it's just…well, it's not every day Tony Stark gives a girl a ring."

"Jeez! If this is how you're reacting to a promise ring, what in the world will I have to do for you to accept an engagement one?"

Pepper could feel her face heating up again, so she looked away.

"Do you like it?" Tony asked, forcing her to face him by lifting her chin with his hand. "It looks good on you."

Pepper gave him a smile and a nod, and when she remembered the conversation she and Marsha had had earlier today, her shy face turned into a prowling one. Tony immediately noticed the change and was taken aback, confused by the sudden change of demeanor, especially when Pepper grabbed him by the shirt, turned him around and practically slammed him against the tree.

The girl scanned their surroundings for possible bystanders, but when she was certain they were all by themselves, Pepper pressed her body against Tony's, making sure that she rubbed it up and down. Tony's shocked face satisfied the redhead, and she proceeded to lean toward his left ear and began to nibble on the lobe.

"Pe-Pe-pper…" Tony stuttered. "What…" he exhaled hard. "What are you d-doing?"

"Giving you my thanks," she whispered to him before running her tongue behind Tony's ear. The gesture caused the boy to practically purr and moan at the same time, and his hands flew to her waist to try to push her off him.

"Pepper, stop."

"Stop?" She repeated as she left a trail of kisses down Tony's neck, making the inventor shiver and bite down on his bottom lip to prevent another moan from escaping his mouth. Pepper then caressed his neckline with her nose, making certain that she released small puffs of air from her mouth. She felt Tony's hands on her waist tense up, and he threw back his head against the tree. "Do you really want me to stop?" she purred.

"No…yes…I mean, no…Pepper…dammit…"

She repeated the same motion with his other ear and the other side of his neck, and this time Tony shut his eyes. His breathing was becoming ragged. The way she was eyeing him and touching him was causing his nerves to be extremely sensitive, making him exceptionally aware that the girl had him at her mercy.

"I think you like it, Tony," Pepper said before pressing her lips on his for an instant and then tracing them with the tip of her tongue. "I think you like it very much."

"Pepper…" Tony clenched his jaw as he waited for Pepper's next move, but when the cold breeze hit him squarely on the face, Tony opened his eyes to see Pepper smiling devilishly five steps away from him.

"And that's what you get for teasing me, Stark," Pepper said before she turned on her heels and skipped her way back to the trail. "Hurry up; it's almost midnight."

Tony was still pretty much in shock after the caresses, but when it dawned on him what had just happened, he groaned and narrowed his eyes. "That was low, Potts. Low _and_ mean."

"Low and mean?" Pepper asked as she extended her hand toward him and he reluctantly took it. "Low and mean come later, Stark."

The girl laughed aloud at his face, and she silently thanked Marsha for her advice.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope I got the British words/slang correct. Please let me know if I didn't!


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 18**

Tony's right hand held onto the handle on the ceiling of the vehicle, and his left hand held onto the edge of his seat, literally. He was hyperventilating like there was no tomorrow, and with the amount of pressure he was putting on his teeth to not scream bloody murder, he was certain he was going to need dentures very soon – as in sometime during the next five minutes, assuming that he _lived_ that long.

"Pepper…" he exhaled in broken breaths. "Slow down…_please_!" He begged of his girlfriend as he felt the car shake abruptly for the tenth time since the ginger had taken control of the wheel.

"Will you calm down, Tony?" Pepper spat. "I'm going _five_ miles below the speed limit," she emphasized her point by showing five fingers of her right hand to the inventor.

"It doesn't feel that way," Tony replied and his right foot automatically pressed against the floor of the passenger seat as if he could somehow influence the speed the car was being driven.

"I am! Can't you see?" She pointed to the speedometer as if it was obvious.

"No, I CAN'T see! THAT'S the problem! You blindfolded me, Potts!"

"Oh, yeah!" Pepper said as if she had just remembered that small detail about their date, and tapped on her chin with her left index finger. "Well, trust me, we're fine," she waved a dismissive hand toward the young man next to her even though he could not see the gesture.

"I'll believe you when my feet are back safely on still ground. Why did you blindfold me, anyway? I thought we were just going out to the movies?"

"Change of plans."

"Change of plans?" Tony squealed. "Is your new plan now to _kill_ me? What did I ever do to you to deserve this, Pepper? Is it because of JARVIS? Or is it because I teased you last night with my Brit accent? Have I said I'm sorry? Would that help any?"

"Will you give it a rest, Tony?" she sighed. "I have a surprise for you." She responded as she made another silly turn that was completely unnecessary with the sole purpose of throwing off the scientist's navigation skills so that he would not find out where she was taking him.

"A surprise _death_?" He whimpered.

"No. Stop it, alright? It's not funny." She replied before she slammed on the break and honked. "Hey! You! Get out of the way!" She spat to no one in an effort to scare off the inventor even more. "Jeez! These pedestrians think the entire sidewalk is theirs!"

"It wasn't meant to be a joke, and the sidewalk IS theirs!" Tony gulped. "I'm afraid for my life, Pepper."

The ginger sighed loudly and placed the vehicle in motion once more. "You're such a wimp."

"I'm Iron Man. I am _not_ wimp. In fact, I'm the furthest from a wimp there is!" He said with the steadiest voice he could muster, but it still sounded as terrified as he felt.

"It's OK if you are one, Tony," she teased him. "The promise of the ring still stands even if you _are _awimp."

"That's _so_ not the same, Potts." He responded and followed it with a yelp when the car came to a sudden stop. "The promise of until death do us part is supposed to happen after the wedding, NOT before!"

"Technicality," she responded and patted his left knee with her hand.

"BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" Tony spat.

"Relax," she smacked his left shoulder. "We aren't even moving." Pepper pointed out and unbuckled her seat belt. "We're here."

"Where?" Tony asked, afraid to remove his blindfold lest he see a pile of dead pedestrians on the ground, under the hood or attached to the car. "Where are we? The third level of hell?"

"Don't move," Pepper scoffed as she exited the vehicle, walked around it and opened the door for the inventor. She then leaned down to unbuckle his seat belt as he finally let go of the "Oh, shit!" handle on the car's ceiling, and helped him out of the car. "No peeking, either."

"What's the big deal, Pep? I came to _see_ you, not just _hear_ you."

"I know you did," she closed the door and grabbed both of his hands in hers, leading him to the entrance of the building as she walked backwards and looked over her shoulder, watching for the door. "And I love you for it. And we can spend the entire day together tomorrow. I promise."

"Tomorrow?" Tony was taken aback and his grip on her hands increased. "Then what are we doing today?"

Pepper did not verbally respond to his question, but she instead slid her hands up his arms until she reached his head and removed the blindfold from him. The scientist's eyes immediately found hers and he blinked a few times to adjust his vision. The redhead smiled widely at him, placed her hands on his shoulders and then turned him around in place.

"Pepper?" he asked over his shoulder as he looked back at her. "What…" He began saying but the ginger grabbed his chin and forced him to look away from her and to his front. "Pepper! Why…oh…OH!"

The answer to his question was now standing in front of him.

"Dr. Richards?" Tony whispered and his eyes opened wide.

"Hi, Tony, it's a pleasure to meet you," Reed extended his hand to the scientist, and Tony dumbly shook it. "Miss Potts," he gave the redhead a nod. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Pepper giggled, clung to Tony's right arm and pressed her body against him as she extended her right hand to the doctor to shake his, but the older scientist instead grabbed Pepper's hand and kissed it lightly. "You're lovelier in person than you sound on the phone."

Neither of them caught the small twitch of Tony's left eye, and the young man was glad for it. He was not necessarily jealous of the older man's courtesy, but the inventor could not yet control his initial reaction to seeing another man catch the attention of his ginger. Tony cleared his throat and looked up to stare at the doctor. "Dr. Richards, why…how…what's going on?"

Pepper gave Reed an apologetic smile before she turned her attention to the inventor. "This is the surprise, Tony. Marsha is friends with Dr. Reed and he was in town this weekend for a conference today. He's going to take you with him, backstage and all."

Tony's eyes widened even more and he shifted his gaze from Pepper to Reed. It was not as if he was a fan boy of the renowned scientist, but he knew a great researcher when he saw one. "Really, Pepper?"

"Really, Tony," she smiled at him before she stood on her toes and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. She then turned her attention to Reed again and gave him a nod. "Thank you for doing this for him, Dr. Richards."

"Not a problem. I'm sure Tony is going to teach me a thing or two that I don't know."

"I don't doubt it," she agreed with him as she shook the man's hand again. The redhead then stood on her toes once more and whispered in Tony's ear. "I love you. Have fun."

Tony's eyes softened and he smiled. "Love you, too," he responded in a regular tone of voice, which Pepper had not expected him to use since they were being closely watched by the doctor. He squeezed Pepper's hand and when she saw Reed's knowing-look on his face, the ginger blushed.

"Alright. Call me when you're done. I'll come pick you up."

"I will," Tony responded and watched the girl until she returned to the vehicle and left. When his eyes returned to Richards, the doctor was smirking at him.

"She's a keeper," he said to Tony.

"You have no idea," Tony said and followed Dr. Richards to his vehicle.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper's eyes were glued to the screen of her computer in her room. The burst of anger that had hit her hours ago when she had first encountered the information that was now displayed on her monitor had now turned into a combination of disappointment and sadness. Tony was not due back to her house for another fifteen minutes as Dr. Richards had offered to drop him off after dinner, and she was glad that Tony had taken his time with the doctor as she was not sure how she would have reacted with him around just a couple of hours ago.

_He decommissioned my suit_, she thought bitterly as she reread the report of the fate of the Rescue armor. She had spent the time Tony had been out in reviewing, reconnecting and familiarizing herself with his old and new systems, knowing that once her life became normal again, she would need to be ready to help Iron Man in any way she could. She had admired the advances he had made to the entire system altogether, and with the help of JARVIS the transition to understanding the new processes had been smooth.

However, when she began reviewing the current statuses of the suits, the Rescue armor had not shown up as active. This had sent her on a search of her precious suit, only to find out that Tony had not wasted any time in dismantling and retiring the Rescue armor altogether.

_He didn't even tell me. He wasn't going to tell me; I just know it._

At first, Pepper had been fuming when she saw what Tony had done to the armor that had taken her months of convincing to get. However, as she had read the report of why the specs were being archived, her anger had melted immediately. If it had not been for one line; one simple line that Tony had input in his log, she would have put on his Iron Man suit that was currently in her room and would have flown over to the conference to scream at him.

The ginger's eyes landed on said line again, and she had to hold back another loud sigh of resignation. She was not certain if Tony even realized what he had written in the log, or if he had even considered that she would one day read it. But in the end it did not matter because he had made his point of why Rescue would never come back to life, extremely loud and clear.

Ever since her return, Pepper had seen the romantic side of the scientist, and she had little by little learned that Tony's passion for technology and knowledge was not just limited to what he did for a living – he transferred it to everything he cared about; including but not limited to their blossoming relationship. If it had not been for his devotion to them, the ginger would have exploded in anger at finding out she would no longer join Iron Man in the trenches of war.

"Miss Potts?" The AI suddenly said, scaring the redhead nearly out of her wits. She was still to get used to the random callings of the intelligence practically running her home, and she knew that her father and Marsha were also having a difficult time adjusting to their new permanent guest in the house.

"Yes, JARVIS?"

"I apologize for startling you, but your father requests your immediate presence in the living room."

"I'll be right down. Thank you, JARVIS."

"My pleasure, ma'am."

Without another glance at the report on her screen, Pepper stood up from her swiveling chair and headed out of her room, down the stairs and into the living room. The first sight that caught her attention belonged to the luggage by the door, and the second sight that robbed her gaze was of her father and Marsha running around the living room, keys and coats in hand.

"What's going on? Going somewhere?"

"Pepper," Virgil began. "Marsha just got called to review some urgent, major project in New Mexico. Something about a hammer that fell from the sky…" Virgil shrugged. "Anyway, I'm going with her and we won't be back until Wednesday. Will you be alright while we're gone?"

"Yeah. Are you taking the car?"

"No," he answered and handed the keys to the girl. "We're taking a cab."

Pepper grabbed the keys and put them inside her shorts' pocket "Anything you'd want me to do while you're out?"

"Not really," Marsha answered as she slipped on her shoes. "But if you need anything, you can call me or your dad. For anything, OK?"

"I will," Pepper said with a smile, already getting used to the fact that Marsha would one day become her official stepmom. "Be careful, you two."

"We will be, sweetheart," Virgil responded and gave Pepper a hug and a kiss. "Be a good girl, OK?"

"Always," she chided with a roll of her eyes and then hugged Marsha as well. "I'll see you guys Wednesday."

"Alright," Virgil said as he led Marsha out the door and carried the bags with him.

"Have a great trip, Mr. Potts, Ms. Ray." The AI chirped in as the door was about to close.

"Thank you, JARVIS," the man responded, hoping he would one day get used to his house talking to him.

xxxXXXxxx

Tony input the code to the front door of the home, walked inside and closed the door behind him. The entire household's lights were off, which he had not expected as it was not even nine at night yet. He was aware that his meet-up with Richards had taken longer than originally planned, but he did not anticipate coming home to an empty house.

"Pepper?" The inventor called as he tried to turn on the lights but the switch would not work. He exhaled deeply and the excitement of the day wore off immediately and was replaced with concern for the members of the household he was yet to see or hear. "JARVIS, lights on."

When neither the lights nor the AI responded, Tony took out his pod with every intention of overriding the system and turning on the lights himself, but a voice in the room prevented him from continuing his task. "Had fun?"

Tony nearly dropped the pod as he was not expecting Pepper to be there, but he recovered almost immediately. He relied on his memory to find his way around the living room and sat in the closest chair rather than the loveseat where Pepper's voice was coming from. "Why are the lights off, Pep?"

"Helps me think," the ginger responded. "I did that a lot when I was with Axonn-Karr."

Tony was taken aback by her response, and the tone she was using made him feel uncomfortable. "Had a lot of fun, yeah," he answered her earlier question. "Thanks for arranging that for me."

Pepper did not make any comment but Tony heard her readjust her position on the couch. Tony did the same and waited for her to speak but when she did not, Tony cleared his throat. "Have a lot to think about?" He inquired. "Where are your dad and Marsha?"

"Out," she deadpanned. "Won't be back until the middle of next week."

"Oh," Tony said. "Is everything OK with them?"

"Yes. They're fine."

"So," Tony began. "What are you thinking about?" he asked again and heard Pepper sigh.

"I saw him again today, Tony. He was in my room after my dad and Marsha left."

"Who?" Tony asked but then his mind answered the question for him. "Pepper, are you OK? Did he hurt you?" he asked as he stood up and stumbled his way to the couch. He wanted nothing more than to turn on the lights to check up on her, but he did not want to break whatever comfort zone the redhead was trying to build with the darkness around them. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," she said in a low voice that was not quite a whisper. "He didn't hurt me."

"God, Pepper. I'm so sorry. I should've been here with you."

"You didn't know he was going to show up. I didn't know he was going to show up, and apparently JARVIS did not register that he was going to show up."

"JARVIS? What do you mean?"

"The infrared cameras showed no signs of him, Tony. I think…" she hesitated. "I think it's…"

"What, Pepper? You think what?"

"I think…" she took another deep breath and exhale slowly before biting her bottom lip. "I think he's inside me."

"W-what?" He placed his left hand on her thigh as it was the only thing he could see while his eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

"Before he appeared, I had this feeling that something was off." She took a hand to her chest. "It was as if I felt I was being watched. I felt something pressing on my chest, and when I turned around in my chair there he was."

"Oh, Pepper…" Tony was at a loss. "Are you sure there was no data collected? Nothing at all that we can analyze?"

"No," she said. "He ran towards me but he…" she sighed again. "He went right through me this time."

"Is that why you think he's hiding inside you?"

"Yes. It…it would make sense, right?" she tried to reason. "JARVIS had no record of him for either of his two appearances. He has only appeared in the dark, and only when I'm alone. So, either I'm losing it, or he somehow transferred himself into me…maybe with the diadem. I don't know."

Tony's shoulders fell and he pulled Pepper into his arms, kissed the crown of her head and closed his eyes. He despised feeling useless to her, and with no data or video or even audio to review, he was no closer to helping her be rid of the shadow of Gene Khan.

"I'm sorry, Pepper. I wish I knew more about the Makluan and how their artifacts work. I thought I knew it all, but even my dad is finding new things about them every day. I want to help you, Pepper. I want to but I don't know how."

Pepper closed her eyes and pressed herself closer to her boyfriend, feeling safe now that he was around. When she opened her eyes again and looked over his shoulders, she saw Gene Khan standing by the corner of the room, glaring at her with piercing, reptile-like eyes. She closed her eyes again and tried to ignore the pressure on her chest. It eventually died down and when she opened her eyes once more, the image of Gene was gone. "It's alright, Tony. I don't expect you to solve all my problems, you know?"

"I haven't solved any, if you ask me."

"You have," she reassured him with a kiss to the side of his face. "JARVIS, dim light #1."

The AI immediately did as told, and the skylight above the fireplace turned on, providing enough light to see the other's face, but not too much to be distracting.

"Thank you for the surprise, Pepper," he said again and kissed her forehead in an attempt to divert her thoughts from the Mandarin and his crazy plots. "But next time come with me. I missed you a lot."

Pepper smiled at him and shook her head. "You need time to yourself, Stark. You can't be expected to include me in everything you do."

"Too late, Pep," he told her. "I already do," he added and pointed to the promise ring. The ginger giggled lightly before Tony's hand rested on her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, and shivers ran down her back when his other hand brushed her hair. "I really like your hair like this," he informed her as he twisted the end of it. "I mean, not that your short hair didn't suit you but I like it better long."

"You've already told me that, Tony."

"I know, but I want to make sure you don't forget it."

"And don't cut it behind your back?"

"Something like that."

Pepper chuckled and pulled away from his hand. She bent her arm over the back of the couch and rested the side of her head on it. Her face then changed to a serious look and Tony felt as if he had just been caught doing something he was not supposed to do.

"So," she began, "Rescue is down for the count, huh?"

Tony's jaw dropped and he looked away. The conversation with Virgil at the hospital came to his mind and he wondered if the man had slipped up and told the redhead that she was Rescue no more, but he then remembered that he had given the ginger free range of his server and his logs. "Pepper, I'm sorry. I just…it was too much…I couldn't…well, you just…"

"I read the report, Tony. You don't have to explain why you did it, but I'd like to know why you didn't tell me right away."

"I…" he sighed. "I know how much you wanted your armor, and you only got to use it once. So, well…I knew it was going to be disappointing for you to find out that I made the call that I should've probably consulted with you first."

"I didn't get to use it just once. I used it a lot when I was out and about chasing Gene with Axonn. Besides, I'm not as weak as you think me to be."

"I don't think you're weak. I just think you don't realize how much trouble you get yourself into sometimes."

"Says the guy who built a suit of armor at fifteen?" She scoffed.

"It's not the same."

"Isn't it now? Because that was you and this is me?"

"Glad we have an understanding," he deadpanned, beginning to get irritated with the conversation he knew had no right to be upset about. "I at least have some protection, Pepper. But you, you went out of your way to chase criminals when you had nothing to guard yourself with!"

Pepper was taken aback by his sudden outburst. She had not intended to demand he reinstituted her suit, but merely to make sure Tony understood life was not going to be as easy as he had wanted it to be before the Makluan had kidnapped her. He was yet to learn from her of the terrible thing she had done while in the other dimension, and if he was reacting this way to her being in a little bit of danger, she knew he would not take the rest of her story in stride as she had hoped him to do. She knew they would be better off ending the conversation this very instant, but something inside of her pushed the next words out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"I wouldn't have had to do it alone if you had just listened to me when I tried asking you for help! I knew my dad was in danger, but you didn't even give me a chance to tell you. You practically blew me off!"

"I…" Tony closed his mouth. "I know," he conceded, his features and tone softening with the realization he had acted no better than her. "And I regret that I almost had you killed, Pepper; which is why I'm not putting you in danger ever again."

"So, are you're planning on breaking up with me soon or how do you plan to achieve that little self-imposed task of yours? You know damn well that Iron Man's girlfriend will always be a target, right? I mean, I was already a target before I was even dating you."

Tony looked down at his lap and everything became quiet between them. He had no response to her question, and Pepper did not offer an answer herself. The only thing keeping her from becoming exceptionally mad at him was the memory of the one line on the report that had eased her anger a while ago: _X-51 Stealth Infiltrator Armor's final status is permanently decommissioned due to its user going MIA; all specs and backup copies of design will be erased; search for user will continue indefinitely but user will not be placed in danger ever again - customized specs for suit of armor are not to be used for any other design – user is irreplaceable._


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

She had been tossing and turning on her bed, recapping the incomplete conversation she and Tony have had just a few hours ago. Neither of them had been able to utter another word after Pepper's question regarding what was Tony's plan to keep her safe since they both knew there was no one perfect solution for it – perhaps none at all. She had gotten up from the couch and walked up the stairs, and he had not followed. She had taken a quick shower and shortly after she had finished and had returned to her room, he had showered as well and had returned to the couch. The fact that they were clearly avoiding each other and the conversation they needed to have made her soul clench.

_User is irreplaceable_, she thought as she again tossed on the bed, unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. It had finally dawned on both of them that the consequences of their union were not as maneuverable as they had once thought them to be. While most of the powerful enemies they had fought in the past were as decommissioned as the Rescue suit, neither teenager was under the false impression that new ones would never appear. There were always crazy people out there wanting to make a name for themselves by trying to take down Iron Man, and now that everyone knew who he really was and what Pepper was to him, a target sign had inadvertently been painted on her forehead.

And then there was Gene.

Pepper sighed loudly and moved again. The possibility that Gene would follow her for the rest of her life bothered her only slightly since worse things had happened to her while in captivity, but she doubted Tony would be thrilled to marry her AND Gene. There was a great possibility that neither of them would ever be able to find a cure for her possession or illusions, whatever it was, and that could only mean that Pepper would forever be bound to the recurring image of the deceased Khan.

Who would want to be with a woman that had already been claimed by another otherworldly man, although not physically? Who would want to live with a person that was not herself half of the time? Who would want to spend their lifetime with a woman that was attached at the hip to a man's worst enemy? All these questions echoed in Pepper's mind.

_Certainly not Tony Stark_, Pepper thought as she shifted once more to face the opened door of her room only to see the object of her affection staring back at her. He looked no better rested than her, and had she not been so distracted with her thoughts she would have heard him knock lightly on the door before he had opened it. She did not invite him to come in but she did not ask him to leave either, leaving it up to him to take the next step.

When she continued to silently stare at him, the inventor sighed, walked inside the room, closed the door behind him and walked around her bed. Even then when she was yet to ask him to leave he hesitated, staring down at the empty spot on the mattress that he had already used in the past. His eyes landed on her back and he silently asked for permission by nudging the edge of the bed. When Pepper did not move further away or closer to him, Tony finally climbed inside the bed and got under the covers with her.

Pepper closed her eyes and exhaled; something inside of her felt more relaxed by his mere presence in her room. He did not move his position in the bed for a long time, and she knew that he was just testing his boundaries with her. She also knew that he could not possibly be comfortable in the position he was in but that he was refusing to get comfortable lest she eventually asked him to leave. After another moment which felt like eternity and a day, Pepper finally cleared her throat and whispered to him.

"I'm tainted, Tony. I'm tainted with blood, tears, and Gene. I'm not as innocent as you knew me to be."

The inventor finally readjusted his position in the bed, opting to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling. "You haven't told me everything that happened while you were gone, have you?"

Even though the tone of his voice was clearly an inquiry, Pepper heard the sureness of his statement, telling her that he suspected as much that she had kept from him the worst of her time with Gene and Axonn-Karr. "No. Not the half of it."

"Why?" His voice was calm but demanding at the same time. He was tired of the riddles and games.

"Because it's painful, shameful, and it will change the way you look at me. I knew I should've told you before we started this, but I'd be lying if I said I don't want it as much as you do. For two years I waited for you to see me the way I saw you, and now that I have it, it's all based on a lie."

"But you still love me," he asked.

"I do," she responded in a heartbeat.

"Then why the hell does anything else matter, Pepper?" He exhaled in an exhausted tone, turned to his left side and slid to her side of the bed. He did not dare to touch her just yet, but he did pull his body as close to hers as he could. "I'm tired of trying to convince you that nothing that you did while gone is going to change what I feel for you. You could've slaughtered a damn town and I would still come home to you."

"I did slaughter a village, or a town, whatever." She deadpanned. It was easier to let him know the atrocities she committed in the name of stopping Gene from possessing all of the rings when she was not directly staring at him; even the ones that made her no better than the criminals he chased himself.

"Were there any kids?"

"None left after I was done with them." She responded and she felt Tony take in a sharp breath. "There's only a black circle where the village used to be. I burned it to the ground."

"How…" he swallowed hard. "How many did you…?"

"I lost count."

"How did that help stop Gene?"

"Is that what you really want to know, or are you actually asking me to give you a good reason not to think the worst of me?"

"I want to know why Axonn-Karr thought it was righteous to make you do the dirty work for him."

"He was there, too. We did it together, many times, across galaxies. Gene traveled a lot."

"Pepper, I didn't…I never imagined it was that bad. I mean, you said you guys had to fight but…"

"But you thought we only fought Gene."

"Yes," he admitted and ventured to lay a hand on her hip. When she did not push him away, he pressed his forehead to the back of her head and curled his fingers around the exposed flesh on the curve of her hip and waist. She was yet to remember that she was not wearing a pajama set tonight, but a red nighty, leaving her body very visible to the young man. "Is this why you said you're tainted? Is this why you didn't want us to get involved?"

"Yup. I thought I could forget it or at least ignore it, but every time I see Gene, it just keeps coming back. I thought I could back to being normal, Tony, but I don't think it's going to happen any time soon – or at all."

"You were never normal, Pepper, and neither am I."

Pepper chuckled. "Maybe that's why I fell for you."

Tony pulled himself closer to the redhead so that his bare chest was against her back. She melted in his arms that surrounded her waistline, and he settled his head on the same pillow as hers. With eyes still closed, Pepper laid her right arm on his, and readjusted her left one under her head.

"What if I never get Gene out of me?" She asked after a moment of silence between them.

"Let's not talk about Gene," he replied and pressed a kiss on her neck. "Let's just rest and regroup in the morning. We shouldn't let him be the reason we don't sleep at night."

"But Tony…"

"No, Pepper. No buts. Gene is dead and we are alive. He has no right to ruin our lives. We'll figure it out. Maybe not tonight, or the next month, but we will figure it out."

"But, what if we…"

Pepper's retort died in her lips when Tony moved her body so that she was lying on her back in order for him to kiss her. The surprise that shook her with his gesture evaporated almost instantly, and she concentrated on enjoying the attention from the billionaire. She knew her father would probably not approve of the teenagers making out at night – or at all – and on her bed, nonetheless, but she needed the contact to reassure herself that Tony was still as committed as he was yesterday.

Just as the other times, Tony took his time with her, alternating between kissing her lips, various parts of her face and even her neck and shoulders. The last part was new to both, but it was not unwelcome by either of them. His hands also traveled to her thighs and the side of her breasts, but did not dare to actually touch any of the wonders that were yet unexplored by him.

Pepper's hands also roamed around on his back, his chest, shoulders and his hips, careful at all times not to brush any part of his body she was not comfortable with yet. While these interactions were quite more intimate than what their short-lived romantic relationship should have allowed, it still amazed them how easily they had moved along to the next step of their mutual physical discovery. It almost felt as if they had been dating for years and not just a few weeks and, surprisingly, the leaps they were taking with their relationship did not feel rushed.

Besides, making out after a fight was better than making up.

When their lips finally parted again, Tony pulled back his body that had at some point ended up completely on top of hers, and settled on his side of the bed by lying face down. His right arm then rested lazily on Pepper's stomach and his head faced hers. "You talk too much, Pep," he smirked and his fingernails lightly scratched the side of her stomach.

"And you worry too much, Tony."

"Only about you."

"You shouldn't worry about me."

"Inevitable, Potts."

"Fixable, Stark."

"Fixable? How exactly?"

"How about I show you tomorrow why you don't need to worry about me?"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her even though she probably would not be able to see them very well. "Are you going to threaten me with driving me somewhere again if I do worry about you?"

"What? No, Mr. Wimp!" she spat. "Today's drive was just part of the plan Tony. We were going around in circles in the main plaza of the town…for about twenty minutes."

"What? You mean to say you were PRETENDING to drive badly?"

"Yup. I'm a very good driver, actually. Ask Marsha. In fact, my driving instructor bumped me to an advanced level and I will be finishing the course earlier than expected."

"That explains a lot," he mused. "I remember that when Rhodey and I taught you how to drive, you weren't swerving around like a maniac, let alone using pedestrians as target practice. I should've known, huh?"

"Yes, you should've! But I'm glad you didn't. It would've ruined the surprise."

"I still can't believe I got to hang around Dr. Reed Richards as if we had known each other for years. Oh, you know? I almost forgot to tell you! He said he would help me analyze the Extremis virus to see if I could be unconsciously affecting other computers."

Pepper was taken aback by this and turned her body completely to her right so that she was facing the inventor. "Are you serious? Did you tell him why you wanted that?"

Tony shook his head. "I just told him I wanted to make sure there are no unknown side effects."

"Oh, alright," Pepper breathed a sigh of relief. "So, when is he going to help you?"

"Next weekend, but that means I can't come here. He's going back to New York tomorrow night."

"That's alright. We can see each other the weekend after that."

"Actually, I was hoping I could take you back with me tomorrow."

"What? Back to New York?"

Tony shrugged as much as it could be done while still lying in bed. "Yeah, it'd be nice, don't you think? I can take you out on a decent date and we can spend the entire week together rather than just two or three days. Besides, I'd like you there with me when I go see Dr. Richards. You're my research person, right? You need to be there to spot any flaws in our logic." He tapped her twice on the nose with his right index finger.

Pepper scrunched her nose and smiled, thinking about what her agenda looked like for this week. Her only worry for now had been her driving classes, but since she had been bumped up to near completion of the course, she only had to go once a week. She figured she could skip the one class she had this week and then go twice once she returned. Her studying could take place anywhere, and her reviewing of Iron Man's systems would be even more efficient if done directly from the Makluan temple. The only thing she truly had to make sure of before she left was to let her dad and Marsha know she would not be home until Sunday of the next week.

"I don't see why not," she finally said.

"Now you're talking sense!"

Pepper chuckled. "Riiiight. Anyway, speaking of sense: what did you mean by a 'decent date'?"

Tony shrugged again. "Well, you know, to a nice restaurant, or a walk in the park."

"You mean the same things we can do here?"

"I don't know much of what's around here, Pepper."

"Guess you're right. How about I take you to my favorite place here tomorrow, and then you take me to your favorite place when we go to New York?"

"What?" Tony yelled, startling the redhead. "You mean to say that you have a favorite place that is not with me?" He asked with a mock hurt tone. "When were you planning on telling me this?"

"Now, Drama Queen?" Pepper laughed. "My mom was actually born here in California, and there is a place she liked a lot; a beach not far from here – if we take your suit. I haven't been to the beach in ages, anyway, so it'd be nice to go, don't you think?"

"The beach, huh? Are you going to wear a bikini?" He winked at her.

"A bikini? Mmhh…maybe…I'm sure plenty of guys would like to see me in one."

"Staring with this one," Tony pointed to his own chest. "Actually, now that I think about it: no, no bikinis, Potts."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to have to beat up other guys for staring at you."

Pepper slammed her forehead with her hand. "Like you beat up that guy you hit with the car?"

"Precisely! But, you know, it would be with the suit, not the car. Driving a car on the sand would be just ridiculous."

"Jeez, that makes it _so_ much better," she rolled her eyes. "And here I was worried that you were going to do something incredibly stupid. If only there was a way you didn't _have_ to beat anyone up."

"If only…" he agreed with a small smile. "Hey, Pepper. I know something we can do while we're in New York."

"What?"

"Halloween!"

"Hallo…what?" Pepper stood up on the bed and leaned toward the nightstand on her side. She grabbed her phone and brought up the calendar and scoffed. "Well, I'll be! It's this Friday!"

"Yeah. I haven't dressed up in ages."

"Tony, you better not be thinking to dress up as Iron Man for Halloween."

"No."

"Or War Machine."

"Err…"

"Or in any of your armors."

"Huh…this is…inconvenient."

"Oh, Tony!" Pepper giggled, which had been exactly what Tony had been waiting for. "I guess we could go trick-o-treating. Or maybe to a haunted house!"

"Pepper, I don't think Obadiah Stane's or Justin Hammer's houses are available for that. But I think Rhona's House for the Perpetually Insane will be available."

"Tony!" Pepper chuckled despite her attempt to control her laugher. "That's terrible!"

"And yet, you're still laughing about it."

"How can I not? It's funny! Terrible…but funny."

"And could be absolutely true," he added with a chuckle of his own. Their giggles eventually died down, and Tony's face turned solemn again. He brushed away stray locks from Pepper's face, and kept his palm on her cheek. "But, in all seriousness, Pepper, I don't care what you had to do to survive while you were gone. You didn't have a choice, and I didn't prevent your kidnapping. I'm as responsible as Gene and the Makluan guardian for what you had to endure, and I honestly don't give a rat's ass if you had to eat newborns while you fought to stay alive."

"That didn't happen, thank God."

"And if Gene had taken advantage of you, while it would've hurt me, I wouldn't think any less of you. Heck, you can be carrying his kid for all I care, and I still wouldn't leave. It would royally piss me off that I can't beat him for it, but it wouldn't change the fact that we're together now. Trust me, Pepper. I'm here to stay."

Pepper shifted her face so that she could place a small kiss on his palm that was still on her cheek. Tony then leaned down and kissed her forehead before they both adjusted their bodies so that they could fall asleep. Tomorrow would be a busy day traveling to the beach and packing for their trip to New York, and they needed all the rest they could get. That night, Tony went to sleep excited about spending the week with Pepper, and Pepper hardly slept after Tony's last words brought a reminder to her mind: she was two months late.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Despite Pepper's explanation that a simple beach towel would suffice, Tony had bought them beach chairs, towels, and a huge umbrella to protect them from the sun. The breeze was cool and the water was warm despite it being late October, and the sound of the waves was intermingled with the laughter of children running by the shore and building sandcastles. There were also some other teenagers around playing volleyball, football or simply lazing around just like the redhead and the blue-eyed boy were doing at the moment.

Pepper was wearing a black and white, flower-patterned two-piece swimsuit composed of shorts and a halter. Tony had opted to wear a simple pair of dark blue swim shorts and had foregone a shirt. Sandals that matched their individual outfits were also present, but since they were both currently lying on the chairs, the shoes had been left on the sand. The ensemble was completed with extremely dark sunglasses for each one.

Since their arrival four hours ago, only a handful of people had approached the pair – particularly Tony – to ask for an autograph or request a picture with the superhero. Their private time had been for the most part respected by the other beachgoers, and Tony attributed it to the fact that it was now well known that he and Pepper were going out, and the bystanders figured the couple was out on a date.

"There's a shoe sale in downtown Malibu today," Pepper said as she read the ads in the local newspaper and magazine she had picked up when they had stopped for gas for the vehicle Tony had rented for the day. "Feel like carrying boxes for me?" she asked with a playful smile while looking to her right and lowering her sunglasses for a brief second to stare at Tony.

Tony smiled at her question, his head resting over his bent arms. "Would it stop you from buying them if I said no?"

"Nope," Pepper said with emphasis on the last sound of the word and returned her attention to the paper. "But it would make me borrow your suit to carry them for me."

Tony chuckled. "That'd be the day. Can you imagine the headlines? Iron Man: The Shoe Box Valet."

"Sounds better than: Iron Man – Wimp in a Car."

"Argh, Pepper!" He whined and looked to his left to pout at her. "You're still going on about that? I had every right to worry about our wellbeing while you drove. You yourself said you drove terrible on purpose."

Pepper giggled and shook her head lightly. "That doesn't make you any less of a wimp."

"You suck, Pepper." He mumbled and returned his eyes to the beach in front of them.

"Only on Wednesdays and every other Monday."

"Tomorrow's Monday," the inventor jested and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not the every other," Pepper responded without missing a beat or even removing her eyes from the ads, and was about to kick Tony's leg with her foot when a group of boys arrived at their spot.

"Hey, you're Pepper Potts," Tony heard one of the boy's say in an accent he knew Pepper would like. "Would you like to join us over there?" the young man pointed behind him to where a volleyball match was about to take place. "We're playing gals against chaps and we're missing one more person."

Pepper and Tony were both taken aback by the sudden and seemingly random invitation but it was the redhead that recovered first and looked up to stare at the three handsome fellows towering over her chair. "I, uhm, sure?"

"Wicked!" the boy responded with excitement and all three of them high-fived each other before running back to the location of the pending match, leaving the redhead to put away her magazine inside her bag.

"What?" She heard Tony ask, her acceptance of their invitation pulling him out of his shock. "Pepper," he whispered as he leaned closer to her ear. "You don't even know these guys, do you?"

The ginger shrugged. "No, but what am I supposed to say?"

"Uh, jeez, I don't know. From the top of my head I guess you can go out on a limb and say: 'no'?"

"What's the big deal, Tony?" She asked while standing up from her chair. "They probably just want to butter me up so that they can ask you for an autograph or something."

"They don't have to butter your _anything_. If all they want is an autograph, I can give them ten. They can sell them on e-Bay for all I care."

"Oh, come on! You're making a big deal out of this. I don't mind doing it at all, autograph or no autograph. It's been a while since I've done something like this. I used to be very active before…well, you know. Remember?"

Tony's argument deflated when he realized that Pepper truly wanted to burn some energy and remembered that neither of them have had much opportunity to do normal activities that other people their age were doing every day. "Fine, Pepper. Just…well, if you get tired or…"

"I'll be fine. In fact, you should come with."

"They didn't invite me," he crossed his arms over his chest.

"No, but they invited me and I'm inviting you. Besides, it's as good an opportunity as any to show you why there is no need to worry about me."

"With a volleyball match, really?" Tony stood up and began walking next to her, heading to the court. "I highly doubt any of my enemies is going to challenge you to a sporting match with specifically nice rules, Pepper."

"No, they're going to try to chase me, hit me, throw stuff at me and try to catch me off guard so that they can capture me; all of which will happen in this game."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her logic but was not able to come up with a good response. Before he could say anything else, the two of them had arrived at the court and were being waved at by the other eleven teens. Pepper's eyes landed on the team on the left of the net – the girls' team, and noticed that there were already six of them. Her eyes then shifted to the team on the right side of the net – the boys' team, and realized that the missing member they had referenced was actually in their group.

"Hope you don't mind playing on our side, lass?"

Pepper shook her head and bit her lip before she gave her fuming boyfriend a side glance. The glare the inventor was giving the group of boys was as intense as the light of the suits' repulsors, and Pepper had no doubt it would probably cause as much damage if he was able to convert his penetrating eyes to the flight stabilizer's technology.

"You've _got _to be kidding me," the inventor growled. Pepper gave his right hand a squeeze and then gave him a quick peck on his cheek.

"Cheer for me," she told him before she joined the male group. As expected, Pepper was given the front and center position of the team, giving the five guys near her a good view of her assets. It was not until she was getting ready to start the game that she realized she had to do one more thing before she could begin. "Wait! My hair. I need to hold my hair or it will get in the way."

The redhead patted down her body but found she had left her hair band inside her bag. She then turned around on her heels with the intention of heading back to where her bag lay, but was faced by her eager team surrounding her. "I'll be right back, I just need to find a…"

Her sentence was interrupted by the five young men handing her different objects she could use to hold her hair. Pepper settled for a rubber band the British teen was offering, and she thanked him with a nod and a smile. The ginger then pulled her hair back and up in a ponytail and crackled her knuckles to symbolize she was ready for the game.

"Is the pretty girl ready to be beaten?" A tall, obviously fake blonde girl asked in a mocking tone from her position in the girls' team. "I'd like to do something other than stand here and bake under the sun while she gets ready to lose."

Pepper gave the girl a smirk and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I can see why you could be in a hurry since your dyed hair could fall off with the sun hitting you like this. I promise I'll make our victory quick."

Behind the ginger the boys whistled and laughed, and the girls behind the tall blonde covered their snickering with coughs.

"Bloody hell! Red can give some lip, huh?"

"I'm sure she can give other things, too," the blonde said and rolled her eyes. "But that's probably all she can give to Tony Stark, as disproportioned as she is."

"Seems the chemicals are affecting your vision," Pepper immediately responded. "Silicone implants_ aren't_ supposed to look like that," she pointed to the girl's large chest. "Now _that's_ disproportionate."

This time the bout of laughter affected even Tony, who had by now forgotten he was supposed to be upset that his girlfriend was mingling with five fit and sweaty guys. _Well_, Tony thought_, if Dr._ _Doom challenges her to a battle of name-calling, there's nothing I have to worry about._

"But enough about fake beach balls," Pepper continued. "Let's play with the real ones!"

"Alright, Red!"

Pepper crouched down and waited for the girls' team to serve. The ball flew over the net and was hit back by one of the guys. The ball was tossed around once more behind Pepper before it was sent to the redhead for the final hit. Pepper jumped in the air and hit the ball, sending it flying back to the girls' team where one of the members had just enough time to avoid awarding the point to the male team.

"Here's the come back!" One of the guys shouted and they all followed the pattern of the ball with their eyes. The girl team bounced the ball back and forth until it was sent to the fake blonde who aimed it directly at Pepper. The redhead expected this move and took a couple of steps back so that she was able to redirect the ball by performing a forearm pass.

"Dig!" Pepper screamed and one of the boys did as told. A third member of the male team ran toward the ball and sent it back to the opposite team. The girls again tried to hit it back hard enough to score a point, but the blonde's efforts backfired when the ball hit outside the court.

"Oh, yeah!" One of the boys said and threw his hands in the air in a little victory dance. "Red's got game!"

Pepper rolled her eyes and smiled, acknowledging her nickname had just been replaced. The ball was returned to the guys' team and Pepper was chosen to serve.

From his vantage point, Tony observed in awe as Pepper moved about the court with a speed and agility he was not aware she had. It was almost as if she was gliding through the sand rather than walking on it, and it was her commands that kept the team functioning like a well-oiled machine. Although the redhead was yet to tell him how much training she had to go through while away with the Makluan, he could already tell that her basic self-defense skills had greatly improved.

The game did not stop until the end of the fourth match, which by then had both teams tied 2-2. The fifth and last match would decide who won and who lost, and the members of each decided to take a quick break to discuss their techniques.

"You have some serious stamina, Red," Ian, one of the players, said to Pepper as he worked on catching his breath. "I guess it comes from hanging around with Iron Man, huh?"

"Guess so," Pepper responded, hardly out of breath, her sunglasses no longer on her after round two. "His suit flies at Mach 2 and it's a trip to chase after him on foot," she joked.

"You're cool, you know that?" Greg asked. "I didn't want Hugh to ask you to come play with us because I thought you were going to be all full of yourself because you date Tony Stark, but I gotta admit I was wrong."

Pepper laughed aloud and shrugged. "No biggie. Now let's make sure we win this match. We have to focus on their back left side. Samantha is afraid of the ball, especially when it comes at her fast. We can score some points using her weakness until they figure out we've found that flaw."

"I agree," Brent said. "I also see that they rely on Jessica too much to do the final strike, and she likes to jump a lot to do a kill shot. We need to stop her before she releases the ball."

"Right," Carl began. "And, based on what I see from here, they are more tired than we are. That means they're going to be making more mistakes."

"Let's exploit that," Pepper said. "We don't have to move around as much anymore, so let's try to volley fast rather than strongly."

"Sounds good to me, love," Hugh said before they broke the formation and returned to their spots on the court. The girls broke their own formation shortly after them, and before they knew it they were back at throwing the ball.

The match continued for ten more minutes, and by the near end of it, the guys' team had 18 points and the girls' team had 15. The sun was high in the sky by now, burning them slowly and causing them to become dehydrated much faster than before, so the group agreed that whoever scored the next point would win the match, regardless of whether it ended up being 18 to 16 or 19 to 15. It was somewhat unfair for the guys' team, but Pepper was sure that they could win.

As anticipated, the girls served the ball and tried to distract their opponents by bouncing it around before it was thrown to Jessica for a final attempt at winning the match. At first glance, it seemed the blonde was aiming at throwing the ball toward the back of the court, making everyone in Pepper's team readjust their positions to be ready for the shot. However, at the last possible second, Jessica abruptly changed direction and ended up sending the ball directly at Pepper's face.

"Pepper!" The teams heard Tony call and his eyes widened when he saw the ball stop right on Pepper's face. Everyone held their breath and expected to hear the sound of the redhead's nose breaking on impact, but instead heard the loud popping noise of the ball busting like a balloon. Half an inch before the ball hit her face, Pepper stopped its trajectory with her bare hands, clutching the sides of it with her fingertips and putting enough pressure on the would-be projectile to cause it to pop.

The collective gasp that followed the deflation of the ball was accompanied by jaws hitting the ground when they realized Pepper's face was untouched. Everyone's eyes then shifted from an unharmed Pepper to a shocked Jessica, whose hand was burning in pain after the immense force she had put on the ball to make sure it broke something on the ginger's face.

"How?" the blonde mumbled. "How did you stop that? That's my best shot!" She asked in disbelief. The blonde was actually a veteran volleyball player and had recently won a scholarship to college thanks to the exact same move she had tried to use on the redhead. It was inconceivable to her that Pepper had taken on the move that not even more experienced players had been able to contain.

Pepper glared at the blonde for a moment, making her shake in fright where she stood, before the redhead's face returned to a happy one as if nothing terrible had almost happened. "Sorry. It was me or the ball, and I like the ball, but I like me more."

"Blimey!" Hugh walked up to her with Tony and the other boys closely behind. "Are you alright?"

"Pepper?" Tony asked immediately afterwards, forcing his way inside the circle of men and cupped her face in his hands. "Are you hurt?"

Pepper shook her head lightly. "Not at all, but I think we're going to have to call it a tie."

"I don't think so!" Jessica spat, finally coming out of her shocked state. "You broke the ball, so you lose."

"Give it a rest, Jess," Laura, one the girls in the girls team said with a roll of her eyes. "They've won, even if you almost gave her a concussion. You're lucky Iron Man doesn't kill people."

"What? She didn't have to stop it. She could've just…"

"What?" Lorraine asked. "Let herself get hit by it?"

"Well…yeah…"

"You're such a bitch," Miranda said as she began walking under the net and headed to where Pepper was still being examined by her team. "Let it go. Your attitude is exhausting."

"But…"

"Whatever," Samantha waved her hand at the blonde as she too walked to the other side of the court. The five girls surrounded the redhead and Tony and gave them both apologetic smiles.

"You played awesome, Pepper. Are you in the volleyball team of your school? You would totally kill our Varsity team all by yourself."

"No, I…uhm, just need to stay in shape," she pointed to Tony who was by now letting go of her face and held one of her hands in his. "He has to work out, so I sometimes join in."

"Seriously? How do you two work out? Lifting tanker trucks? Chasing after the Hulk?"

"Something like that," Pepper responded with a smile. "It was a good game on your part, too. I had fun."

"We had fun as well…I mean, other than playing with Jess. She has an issue with you two. Not you, per se," the girl pointed at Pepper. "Just the idea that someone that is not as 'pretty as her' is dating Tony Stark."

"I don't like implants," Tony spat, trying his best to remain calm and not physically hurt the pouting girl behind them. "Or fake hair," he grabbed Pepper's ponytail and gave it a light swing.

"It's alright, Tony, we understand." Samantha said. "Sorry about Jess, though."

"It's alright," Pepper insisted. "I'm glad I got to play, anyway."

"We're glad you joined us," Brent said and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're cool, Red."

With that final thought, and after exchanging contact information and goodbyes, Tony and Pepper left the court and packed up to head back to Pepper's home.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

The sound of the fading repulsors told Pepper that she was finally alone in the Makluan Temple. After waiting for three days since their arrival on Sunday afternoon, Iron Man had finally been needed for a short mission in New Jersey, giving the redhead a window of opportunity to do what she had been wanting to do since it had dawned on her that she was over two months late.

"JARVIS?" Pepper asked while she got comfortable in front of her laptop on one of the work tables.

"Yes, Miss Potts?"

"I need you to help me draw a blood sample and analyze it immediately."

"Who is the subject?"

"Me."

The AI went silent for a moment and then the main computer screen showed a list of steps on how to use Tony's medical equipment to extract the blood from herself. The steps also showed images and videos to assist the ginger in performing the new task all by herself.

"Please refer to these instructions to begin the procedure, ma'am. However, I must advise you that Mr. Stark has a protocol in place so that immediate notifications of all medical tests ran in his lab are sent to him in the moment they occur."

Pepper groaned. "Seriously? Any way to override that directive?" she asked as she loaded on her laptop the specs of the protocol JARVIS was referring to. "This is kind of private – girl stuff, you know?"

The AI went quiet again and Pepper worried for a moment that the system was already ratting her out with Tony, but when it finally came back online, Pepper breathed a sigh of relief.

"There are a few particular exceptions to the implementation of this protocol," JARVIS began as said exceptions appeared on Pepper's laptop. "The most applicable in this case would seem to be for non-life-threatening routine medical checkups. Since user Rescue has not been tested for quite some time, it is entirely possible a routine checkup is due."

"Are you sure this won't red flag my tests, as long as I'm not dying?"

"Absolutely."

Pepper remained silent as she analyzed the protocol and accompanied algorithms and sighed. "How do I know you're not telling me what I want to hear, JARVIS?"

"I am incapable of overriding the procedure myself, but I am allowed to provide options to you, Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Stark to override the established procedures yourselves. My programming is not meant to be absolute or unyielding; I'm merely here to assist you."

Pepper was still not convinced that Tony would not sneak a peek at the activity logs or the camera feed, but it was a risk she had to take in order to clear her conscious. "What's my level of access to the system?"

"Equal in authority as Mr. Stark with the only exception that you are not allowed to wipe it clean."

"So," Pepper mused aloud. "If I asked you to not show to Tony the feeds for my testing and/or the logs and final results of the procedure, you have to follow that request?"

"Indeed, unless Mr. Stark specifically requests exact times and dates of the logs or video feeds."

"Right," the redhead said. "Here goes nothing. JARVIS, anything and everything that happens and has occurred since 4:10 PM should not be revealed to Tony unless he specifically requests it. This includes video feeds, logs, usage of medical devices, analysis of samples and most especially the final results."

"Processing request," the AI said. "Request active."

"Alright."

Pepper stood up from the table and walked over to the instructions and videos shown on the main screen of the computer. She reviewed the files several times until she felt comfortable enough with the procedure. She then walked over to the medical section of the lab and drew a few samples of blood.

Once she had drawn what she needed, she placed the samples inside the automated laboratory station and activated the control panel to begin the analysis. "JARVIS, I need you to run all of the available tests including quantitative and qualitative hCG tests."

"This request will take 24 hours to complete."

"That's fine, just keep it under wraps and send the results directly to my secure e-mail."

"Will do. However, I should point out that perhaps an in-home pregnancy test would be faster than an hCG blood test?"

"I know, but that means I have to leave the temple and risk somebody seeing me buying the test. I can wait a day for the results."

"Very well. Mr. Stark has just now sent a message for me to relay to you."

"Which is?" The redhead asked as she walked away from the medical section of the lab and returned to the work table to continue her studying for the GED, but JARVIS message took the will to study from her.

"He has informed me that the mission is taking longer than expected and he might not be back for another hour or so."

"Tell him to be careful, and turn on the news to whatever channel is broadcasting the mission."

Pepper walked up to the practically obsolete command chair and sat in it, watching and monitoring Tony's vital signs while watching the development of the mission on TV.

xxxXXXxxx

The hour or so turned into ten, and by the time Tony returned to the temple, it was already way past midnight. The emergency he had helped with had turned into several emergencies when the power grid of half of the East Coast had suddenly fried, leaving many innocent people stranded, trapped, or simply on the verge of death when their life support or other ancillary medical equipment went down for the count.

After five hours of flying around helping others, Tony had sent a frustrated and tired Pepper to rest, and the redhead had reluctantly agreed. She had also been helping in restoring power in any way she could from the temple, but Tony knew that she had wanted to be in the Rescue armor and in the field with him.

"Welcome home, Mr. Stark," JARVIS said as soon as Tony walked out of the chute. "Another successful mission, I presume?"

"For the most part, yes, I suppose," Tony agreed as he began peeling off the remains of the battered suit with the help of Extremis and dumped it inside the restoration bin. Every part of his body ached and demanded rest, but he could not any longer just fall asleep on the first available surface or in his own bed without cleaning up first; at least not while his redhead was around to scold him for it.

"Schedule a major maintenance session for the Mark II, and render me a preview of the proposed upgrades for the Mark III." The inventor ordered as he stretched his limbs and popped his back.

"Maintenance is estimated to take fourteen hours, and rendering will be ready in three."

"Don't wake me up for it," the inventor added as he walked up to medical station to take a couple of pain relievers from the first aid kit before he headed to the kitchen. "Anything to report? Where's Pepper? She asleep?"

"She is currently showering and has left you dinner in the oven, sir."

"Really?" Tony asked while he filled up a glass with water and chugged down the ibuprofen pills. "What did she make me?"

"Spaghetti and meatballs."

"_Oh_, yeah! I'm starving!" Tony's mouth was watering when he took out the still warm food from the oven, and wasted no time in sitting in the small two-person kitchen table to practically vacuum his dinner plate. After he ate to his heart's content, the genius cleaned after himself and left the dirty tableware inside the dishwasher, and put away the leftovers in the refrigerator.

"So, I take it Pepper has been awake even though I told her to go to bed?" Tony stretched again and headed out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bedroom.

"Indeed. She has been in the shower for a long time now, however. Per your specifications there are no sensors or cameras in the lavatory, but the water pressure of the shower has not stopped for the past hour."

"An hour? That's weird. How long has she been inside?" Tony asked as he stopped his trek to the bedroom and stood outside the bathroom door. He pressed his left ear to it to hear the running water and his bare feet felt some of the steam coming from under the door.

"Two hours." The AI responded.

Tony's head snapped back and he looked up at the ceiling as if expecting JARVIS to detect the surprise on his face. "_Two_ hours? What gives, JARVIS? Why didn't you tell me as soon as I walked in here?"

"There are no procedures associated with the prolonged usage of the facilities, sir. At least not after the incident with Mr. Rhodes getting ill inside."

"Oh, yeah," Tony remembered the awkward situation and scratched the back of his head. In one of the occasions Rhodey had stayed overnight to help with the search for Pepper briefly after she had been taken, Tony had been forced to take down the door to his bathroom with his Iron Man suit to check up on Rhodey who had been inside for an hour only to realize his friend was still sitting on the toilet and was obviously sick. The other young man had been embarrassed and angry for days, and as a compromise Tony had agreed to remove all security features from the restroom despite his promises that he had only rushed inside because he refused to lose another friend.

"I definitely don't want to do that to Pepper but two hours is just too much. Hey, Pepper?" he knocked on the door twice. "Can you hear me? I'm back, Pep."

The genius waited for a few seconds for any response and when he received none he tried again, his knocks much louder this time. "Yo, Potts! The man of the house is back. Is everything alright?"

The sound of the running shower was his only response.

_The hell?_ He thought as he debated whether or not to override the lock of the door. On the one hand, Pepper could just be listening to music while taking a bath and she would surely be upset if he walked in on her. On the other hand, she could also be in danger and or severely injured and in the need of help.

_There is no bath that requires the shower to be on_, Tony reasoned after a moment of hesitation and before his fingers flew to the keypad on the wall. _She can kill me later._

"Cover up, Pepper. I'm coming in!" He gave her a last warning before the hissing of the lock removal was heard and Tony walked inside.

The first thing that he felt was the sting of the water vapor in his eyes, and the amount of it surprised the heck out of him. The room was so hot that even the tiles under his feet felt warm, and after taking a few steps toward the shower stall he felt hot water scalding his feet.

"Damn!" He took a step back and ran to the bathtub. He opened the cold water faucet and dunked his feet inside the tub and felt instant relief from the burning water. "Son of a bitch!"

He leaned over to the towel rack and grabbed two hand towels. He then sat on the edge of the tub and wrapped his feet in the fabric to offer some protection from the approaching hot water and his eyes stared in the direction of the stall.

"Pepper? Are you OK?" He tried once more and began walking to the stall, the wet towels squishing under his feet. The transparent walls were covered in thick steam, making it impossible to be able to see inside. "Pepper, I'm coming in."

He pulled open the door and took a step inside, careful not to bump into her and scaring her. However, when he was not able to immediately find her, Tony had just about enough of wasting time.

"Shut off," the inventor ordered and the water immediately stopped running, and seeing no other option he got on his knees and began patting the floor – all 110 square feet of it.

"Pepper, speak up. Pepper? Pepper?" He called after her, and when he finally reached the center of the room where the drain was located, he gasped. There in front of him and going down the gutter was a fresh trail of blood.

"No!"

He crawled on the floor to follow the direction where the bright red liquid was coming from and it took him to the corner of the stall, revealing to him almost immediately a nude, unmoving and wide-eyed Pepper Potts.

"Oh, please no!"

His initial instinct was to find the origin of the blood on her body and he was quickly able to determine it was coming from a large gash on her forehead. At first he thought that she had probably slipped and hit her head somewhere, but that would not explain why her eyes were open, irritated and unblinking.

Unless, of course, she was already dead.

The thought alone made Tony sob.

"Come on, Pepper, say something," he kneeled in front of her and lightly slapped her cheek with one hand while the other checked for a pulse on her neck. When he found one, and after he was briefly reminded of what had occurred during the car pileup, he ran out of the stall, kicked off the hand towels on his feet and grabbed the closest large towel he could find.

He took it inside the stall with him and placed it on Pepper's front to cover her exposed figure. He then carefully lifted her and readjusted the towel so that it covered her completely before he picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the bathroom, down the hall and to the medical portion of the main lab. "JARVIS, prepare the x-ray, CAT scan and MRI machines. Pepper is injured."

"Immediately, sir."

The inventor laid Pepper on the medical table and began strapping on to her any device he could think of to monitor her stats. He then grabbed a small flashlight and shined its bright light onto her eyes before he spoke again. "Pupils are unresponsive."

"Noted," the AI stated while Tony used a corner of the towel covering Pepper's body to dry her face.

"Heat up the table to help dry her up."

"In process."

"Dammit, Pepper, what the hell happened to you?" Tony mumbled as he held the ginger's right hand in his and looked up to the heart monitor to read that her beat was steady and calm. He then reviewed her current temperature and was surprised to see it was also at a normal range. "I don't understand."

"Machines are ready for scanning, sir."

"Alright," Tony took a step back and let go of her hand. "Show me anything, whether it's normal or not."

"Scanning in progress. Estimated completion time is five minutes."

After he saw the redhead become encapsulate in the machine that would give him a better idea of what had happened to her while he was out, he decided to return to the bathroom to analyze the scene. As he walked near the beat up Mark II, the boy called upon his still workable helmet and placed it on his head with the purpose of scanning every inch of the room.

To his disappointment, the scans of the room showed nothing significant that would explain why the redhead was in an apparent state of shock, leaving him with no other theory for now that she had just tripped and hit her head on the wall on her way down. He cursed under his breath as he left the bathroom and headed to their bedroom, but he saw nothing out of order other than Pepper's change of clothes lying on the bed. He gave the room one last scan before he removed the helmet, sent it back to the repair bin, and returned to the main lab.

"JARVIS, what was Pepper doing before she went inside the bathroom?"

"She was in the kitchen, making dinner."

"And before that?"

"Watching the news station for updates on the blackout and your whereabouts."

"Did she drink anything unusual? Take any medicine or anything?"

"She took some pain reliever pills. She stated she had a headache."

"Same pills I just took?"

"Indeed."

Tony walked over to the first aid kit and took out the bottle. He read the label and confirmed the pills were not expired. "How many did she take?"

"Two."

"That's the normal dose," Tony said to himself before he began reading the possible side effects. "We're drawing a blood sample, JARVIS. Run a toxicology test and an allergic reactions one, too."

"As you wish."

By the time Tony put down the bottle of pills and returned to Pepper, the capsule was being retracted from the redhead's body. Tony ran his hand on the side of her face and sighed. "Why does this keep happening to you, Pep? Why can't you just get a break?"

The inventor waited patiently and in silence, pressing Pepper's hand to his lips while JARVIS processed the results of the scans. Once he saw that the scans were almost complete, Tony stood up from the stool he was sitting on and proceeded to draw a blood sample from Pepper's left arm before walking over to the automated laboratory station.

"Scans show no major internal damage other than a minor concussion, likely caused by the forehead injury, sir. There are no broken bones or internal bleeding, although I was not able to determine a physical reason why her eyes will not close. An initial search of the symptoms, however, reveals that perhaps Miss Potts is suffering from a catatonic state."

"Catatonic? As in severe shock?" Tony stared at the unmoving redhead with fear; he could not image what had caused the ginger to jolt out of reality, especially while in the protection of his own home. "Compile the literature available for catatonic state: causes, treatment, everything; I'm giving it a read. Also, is there anything I can drop in her eyes so that they don't dry up?"

"We can try to use a similar compound used during laser eye surgeries."

"Do we have some handy?"

"I can process one right now."

"Do it," Tony commanded as he opened up the control panel of the lab station to load the blood sample but was surprised to see an analysis was already taking place. After a few taps on the touch screen, Tony's eyes widened when he saw the list of tests that were being ran on an earlier sample of Pepper's blood.

"Is Pepper sick? Why is she running so many tests?"

"A routine check was requested by her, earlier today."

"Routine check?" Tony shook his head. "This is _way_ more than just a routine check, JARVIS."

"User Rescue has never been fully scanned, sir. It seemed appropriate to perform all available analyses."

"I guess." Tony shrugged, still not convinced that so many tests were actually needed given the MRI and CAT scans picked up no major issues within her. "I did insist she checked up with a doctor after she came back so…" Tony's voice trailed as he reviewed the status of the tests that were in progress. He scrolled down the list of the pending tests and his jaw suddenly hung when he saw the latest test that had just been completed.

"Gene," was the only word Tony could utter in his state of shock.

* * *

**A/N:** What? Why are you looking at me like that? Oh, THAT! Well, all I can say is that, in case you haven't read any of my other stories other than the Armored Adventures ones, not everything is at it seems with me. Isn't that right, fantasia-49? ;)


	22. Chapter 21

**Warning: **Foul language follows. Can you blame them, though?

* * *

**Chapter 21**

At least her eyes were closed now.

At least she was not pregnant.

At least she was still alive.

And yet, the blue-eyed boy failed to see the silver lining in all of this.

The inventor rubbed his tired eyes even though he knew that it would not help with the straining of them or the painful throbbing of his head that refused to fade. Although he had been awake for nearly thirty-six hours, and a third of those had been spent playing super hero and saving kittens from trees, the young billionaire refused to sleep.

He had spent the last eight hours arguing with JARVIS – even though it made him sound insane for arguing practically with himself – about what to do about Pepper's condition, and reprogramming his protocols to remove all exceptions for medical procedure notifications. Plus, despite his promise to Rhodey, Tony was reinstalling security measures in the facilities; it just was not worth the risk of not having them in there when the rest of his home was already under Big Brother's watch.

Pepper had been right all along – he _was_ a jealous paranoid, more paranoid than jealous, he wanted to believe, and frankly right_ now_ he could not find a damn to give if he was acting like a freaking obsessive, stalker-type kind of guy.

"Let's go over this again, JARVIS," an exhausted inventor said. "You're telling me that Pepper's symptoms appear to be signs of schizophrenia? Why is that, again?"

"Based on your logs and her conversations, it appears that Miss Potts is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Catatonic states are common in patients experiencing PTSD, and catatonic states are a type of schizophrenia."

"But, I thought one is born with schizophrenia," Tony argued back.

"Not necessarily, sir. Most patients are not diagnosed until they reach their teens since it is not until then that they experience hormonal imbalances on a daily basis. Brainwave imbalances can also occur at this point."

Tony exhaled loudly and rubbed his temples with his fingertips. "How long is she going to be like this? Catatonic, I mean."

"It varies and depends on the treatment and the brain function of the person. It can typically last between a few hours to a month."

"A month?!"

"That is correct, but only without proper treatment."

Tony held the weight of his head by resting it against his laced hands. He felt like an idiot for never considering that the experience Pepper had lived through could cause long-term effects that neither of them could control. He had been so worried about her physical comfort and helping her move on that he never stopped to realize that her mind would be the one affected the most by whatever events occurred while she was under Makluan house arrest.

"Sir, if I may suggest," the AI interjected. "I believe we are beyond our area of proficiency and have now reached a point where it might be prudent to seek expert advice."

"What are you saying?"

"That perhaps Miss Potts would be better cared for at a specialized facility."

"You mean a psych ward?"

"Among others, but not necessarily that particular one."

"No fucking way, Jarvis." Tony slammed his hand on the table. "I'm not dumping her in a crazy people PLACE!" He raised his voice with very word he said.

"Her continued presence may not be required but…"

"No," Tony deadpanned. "I said no."

"Sir, may I remind you that you're not the legal proxy for Miss Potts, and that you may be held liable for not taking her to a proper medical facility."

"Isn't legal counsel beyond _your_ area of expertise, too?"

"It's not when it conflicts with carrying on my original programming of serving you, sir."

Tony's eyes landed on the sleeping girl whom he had somehow managed to get dressed despite her condition. The rest of the blood tests were still taking place as only half had been completed so far, although none of them helped much in uncovering the cause of her illness since most of them were coming back as negative or normal.

_What did she see? What scared her so much?_ The inventor thought as he stood up from the chair and walked over to review the footage of Pepper's day while he was gone. He had replayed and re-watched the footage more times than he could count now, but nothing stood out to clue him as to what had occurred. Pepper had not shown any signs of stress other than when she was helping him with the blackout, and she had not eaten or drank anything out of the ordinary or poisonous.

_Whatever happened to trigger the shock, it had to have happened when she was in the bathroom. _

Right when she was in a place that had no surveillance whatsoever.

"JARVIS?"

"Sir?"

"Can you get a hold of Dr. Yinsen?"

"Would you like me to schedule an appointment for tomorrow? I believe it is quite late to find him in his office."

Tony looked down at his watch and saw that it was in fact the wee hours of the morning, and as much as in a hurry he was to help Pepper, waking up the only doctor he trusted was not going to improve matters any. "Yeah, as soon as he has an opening."

"Would you like me to relay to him what occurred?"

"Yes. And send him the medical file of what we have so far."

"Very well."

"I can't think straight," the scientist said to himself. "I need to rest and Pepper needs a comfortable place to sleep it off. Is it OK for me to unplug her and take her to bed with me?"

"Her vitals are stable. I don't see any reason why she would be in any danger if the sensors are removed from her."

"Alright." Tony took a deep breath, pulled himself up from the laboratory table, and then felt a sharp pain course through his right shoulder.

"What the hell?" His left hand flew to his back and when his eyes looked behind him, he almost forgot how to breathe.

The sharp pain had been caused by a scalpel that was now embedded in his shoulder blade, and the attacker stood behind him, angry eyes piercing his form. "Pepper?"

The redhead's single blink of her eyes was the only warning Tony received before she launched herself at him. Tony sidestepped and was able to dodge her attack, but the surprise move appeared to only confuse her for a few seconds. Tony took a few steps back and placed a considerate amount of distance between them and with his left hand he removed the scalpel she had just stabbed him with. He bent it in half with his left hand, and threw it far away from either of their reach.

"Pepper, when did you wake up? Why…" he stared at his bleeding shoulder. "What….What's wrong?"

"Die," Pepper deadpanned and lunged towards him again, this time with a faster speed than before. Tony hardly had enough time to avoid her punch and instead grabbed her fist in his right hand, and used his left arm and leg to keep her at bay without actually hurting her.

"Pepper, snap out of it! What are you doing?"

"Die," she repeated to him before she jumped up in the air and pushed the inventor away from her by kicking his solar plexus with both of her feet. The boy felt the oxygen being pounded out of his lungs as he fell down on the floor while the ginger performed a back handspring to ease her landing on the concrete floor.

Tony rubbed his stomach and chest with his left hand and slowly rolled onto his right side to try and get up, but he was suddenly kicked on the side of the face, causing him to twirl in place and he ended up sprawled on his back again. The inventor coughed and groaned in pain as he waited for his brain to piece together what was happening around him, but the ginger did not give him time to think.

"I'll kill you," Pepper said before she bent down to grab him by his wrists, picked him up by them, and twirled them both in place and sent him flying off to hit the side wall of the temple. Tony screamed in agony caused by the force of the impact and his body then slid down to the floor like a sack of potatoes. He knew he had gained some extra inhuman strength when he had injected himself with Extremis, but compared to what Pepper was doing to him right now, he felt as if he might have as well just reverted to being an average Joe.

"Pepper…stop," he spat blood to the side, his face already swelling, and lifted his right hand toward her. "It's me…Tony. Why are you doing this?"

"It appears that Miss Potts is not responding to stimuli, Mr. Stark. You may have to resort to physical restraining maneuvers."

"You mean hitting her?"

"Incapacitating her with a well-placed punch will keep her from hurting you and herself. Her brainwaves show she is hallucinating, sir."

"Another sign of schizophrenia?"

"The opposite spectrum of catatonic state, yes."

"Dammit," Tony mumbled and used the wall behind him to pull himself to a standing position. "Is the Mark II ready?"

"No, sir."

"Shit," Tony said between clenched teeth and excruciating breaths as the redhead slowly approached him. He pressed his back toward the wall to keep himself steady, but without attacking back he knew he probably did not stand a chance against her. "I don't want to fight, Pepper. I don't want to hurt you."

The ginger narrowed her eyes at him but stopped in her tracks, and for a moment Tony thought he had gotten through to her.

"Hurt me?" Pepper said with a chilling tone before she scoffed. "You can't hurt me, Gene. You can't hurt me _or_ Tony. I won't let you. I won't let you touch him."

"Gene?" The boy's eyes widened in surprise. "You think I'm _Gene_?"

"Shut up and die!" Pepper cried and ran toward Tony. The scientist felt corralled in his own lab, eyeing everything around him to try to come up with a plan that would not involve hitting his confused girlfriend. His eyes finally landed on an old piece of metal that used to be a tabletop he had recently replaced and had intended to recycle. He rolled over on the floor in the direction of the metal to avoid Pepper's incoming kick, grabbed the piece of table in his hands, and held it in front of himself as a shield.

"Pepper, stop!" Tony begged but she had none of it. He saw from above the metal he held that Pepper was running toward him as if he was not protecting himself with a thick metal piece and aimed a punch at him. Tony maneuvered the metal to avoid the contact, and was even more shocked to see that she had made a dent in the shape of her fist in the make-believe shield.

"Holy crap!" was all Tony could utter before he had to adjust the position of the metal to avoid a kick and then another punch from the redhead, all of which resulted in more noticeable dents on the old table top. "How is she doing this?"

"Adrenaline rush, perhaps," the AI suggested. "It is not uncommon for humans to develop exorbitant amounts of strength when faced with imminent danger."

"But she's not in danger!" Tony spat as he again avoided another kick from the ginger. "Pepper! Listen to me! It's Tony; stop this!"

"You won't hurt Tony!" Pepper yelled at the top of her lungs and bent the tabletop out of shape with a punch.

"I AM TONY, Pepper! You ARE hurting me!"

"You won't touch me again, Gene! You won't hurt me again!" The girl responded and snatched the metal from Tony's hands. She then continued to bend it out of shape with her hands and then tossed it behind her back.

"Adrenaline rush, my ass, JARVIS!" Tony ran toward the opposite corner of the room and called on the gauntlets of his Mark I armor. "This is more than that!"

"Come back, Gene!" Pepper growled and ran in the direction where Tony stood as he waited for his gauntlets to surround his arms. She then propelled herself so that she landed in a handstand on the worktable separating the two of them, and then pushed herself toward Tony, kicking him in while still in the air. Tony lifted his right hand in front of his face, stopping the attack with his armor, but the impact still made him stumble and he had no option but to take a few steps back.

"I'm sorry, Pepper," he mumbled before the entire Mark I armor covered him. "I'm really sorry."

Now with his suit protecting him, the inventor began an offensive attack toward the redhead, trying his best to restrain her long enough to be able to sedate her. However, the ginger was not done with him. Tony surrounded her from her back and held her arms down with his. Pepper responded by planting her feet on his thighs and pushed them backwards at the same time she propelled herself forward, causing Iron Man to flip over in the air while still holding on to her form and landed on his back with Pepper's elbows hitting him on the sides.

Pepper then jumped off him and ran toward the scrapped metal table remains and grabbed one of the circular legs that lay nearby. She twirled the stick in her hands like a baton and charged at Tony again.

The inventor crawled backwards on the floor and used his gauntlets to prevent being hit with the sticks but when Pepper found an opening in his defenses, she was able to land a hit on his upper left leg. The pain caused the scientist to react rather than to think, and he kicked her in the stomach with more force than was needed to keep her off him.

The girl landed on her back near the pile of table legs, and with a spring she got back on her feet with two sticks in her hands now. Tony propelled himself to a standing position, and in the quick second it took him to call on other parts of his Mark I suit, she ran toward him, weapons in hand and began expertly maneuvering the batons against him.

With every move he made to avoid her hits, more parts of the armor covered him, but he soon realized that she was becoming faster and was beginning to predict his moves. A second later, Pepper crouched down and used the right stick to hit Tony's legs, flipped him over, and then used the left leg to hit his armored chest.

Tony landed a few feet away from her, glad that the chest piece provided him with some protection. However, his breath then hitched in his throat when Pepper twirled both metal legs in her hands, and glared at him again. "You won't have your way with me again, Gene. I'll make sure of that."

_Damn you, Gene! _The inventor thought. _You aren't getting the best of her!_ Without hesitation, Tony used his sonic disruptors to stop Pepper where she stood. The attack worked better than expected, and Pepper dropped the batons to hold her head in her hands.

"Now or never," Tony whispered as he called on his Artic Armor and his Space Armor. The two suits immediately appeared and flanked the redhead, holding her down by her arms while she was still dealing with the effects of the sonic disruptor that should have knock her unconscious but it had not. Tony slowly stood up from the floor and walked over to the medical table – or what was left of it – and grabbed one of the sedative syringes.

"NO! LET ME GO!" The ginger screamed as she pulled on the suits to try and free herself. Iron Man ran back toward her and kneeled before her. He aimed the syringe at her neck but before he could press the trigger, the ginger lost all control.

"NO!" she screamed again and pulled herself away from him before she dug her fingers in the armored hands that held her down. She back flipped using the arms as pulleys and took them down with her. Once she landed on her feet, she twirled and threw both armors toward Iron Man, and all three armors scrapped the floor on their way to the wall. Pepper's tired and wobbly form slowly approached him, her hands bleeding from the embedded metal in them.

Tony managed to command the obsolete armors to fall off him and as he tried to stand up he suddenly realized he could not move. He looked down to his now exposed right hand where he had been holding the syringe only to see it had punctured him with the force of the impact of the suits on him.

Worse of all, the orange liquid was now coursing through his veins.

"Oh, _shit_…JARVIS…"

"Sir?"

"Override…protocol…352." The inventor demanded, feeling his head beginning to spin.

"All of it?" The AI asked with a tone similar to one of concern, knowing the full impact of overriding the only thing that was keeping him from intervening in the fight between the two teens: Tony's command that excluded Pepper from the implementation of the AI's basic programming clause: protect the user at all costs.

"Not lethal…just…constrictive…but not lethal. Don't kill her…please…" Tony's eyes began to close.

"As you wish," JARVIS responded and the temple went into lockdown mode. Red lights flashed at the same rate the safety alarm blared in the building, and the vents released a rather potent tear gas. The AI then took control of the operations of all the suits and components of the system, and activated the filter inside Tony's suit to prevent the chemical from harming him.

Pepper closed her eyes when she felt the effects of the chemical and she began to cough. Once the redhead was on the ground, a shield activated and surrounded her, keeping her in place and away from a helpless Tony. The move was tailed by a small electric shock to the girl – similar to a TASER attack – which caused her to lose consciousness where she lay.

Once both teenagers became unconscious, JARVIS commanded the suits to begin clean up duty, and a very important call was made by the AI.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The taste of metal was still in his mouth, and while it was not uncommon for him to suffer wounds during battle, he would never get used to coming back home battered. His mind searched for the details that would tell him how he had ended up hurt again, but he could not recall battling a super villain or being run over by a train, which was exactly how he felt at the moment.

He ventured to open his eyes and darkness was his only company. He turned to his right and saw a familiar nightstand he had not seen in months, telling him he was in his room back at his father's home.

_Why am I here?_

He struggled to sit up on the bed and the instant sharp pain down his back and left leg reminded him that he had been severely beat up by his disturbed girlfriend, who apparently was nowhere near him right now. Even if she was still mad at him for somehow looking like Gene to her, he still wanted to know how and where she was.

He closed his eyes and rubbed the side of his forehead with his right hand. He remembered Pepper falling into a severely shocked state. He remembered finding her in the shower. He also remembered thinking for a brief instant that Gene had actually abused her, but was also glad to remember that the test has come up negative.

However, the events of the fight between them and how it had ended were not as clear to him. He slid his body to the side of the bed and slowly forced himself to stand up. Once he felt stable enough, he walked up to the door and left the room, heading directly to the lab to contact his AI. As soon as he arrived at the technology lab in his father's mansion, he was not surprised to see Howard Stark already there, but he _was_ surprised to see Dr. Yinsen and his redhead all sitting in a circle and drinking tea.

"Pepper?"

"Tony!" The ginger's head snapped up and she nearly dropped her tea but managed to catch it in the end. She placed the cup on the table to her left before she stood up from the chair and ran to the inventor. Tony prepared for the hug he saw coming, but a second before she was to surround him with her arms, she hesitated and held back.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked with her head down and her hands curled up on her chest. "You…you've been asleep for a week. I…I didn't know what to think…"

Tony's eyes shifted from the guilt-ridden girl to his father's and then Dr. Yinsen, both of which shrugged at him, confirming to him that it _had _been a week since he had passed out on the floor of his lab, but the idea of passing out for that long seemed foreign to him. The genius then returned his attention to the ashamed girl, and he cupped her shoulders with his hands. "I'm OK," he assured her. "Are you alright? What are we doing here?"

Pepper lifted her head to stare at him and bit her lip before she turned behind her to eye the doctor. Yinsen took his cue from her and stood up, followed closely by Howard. "Tony, glad to see you are awake. Your injuries are recovering much faster than anticipated, probably due to the Extremis. You should be back to normal in no time."

"Has it really been a week?" the young man asked, removing his hands from Pepper only to then hold hers in his by their sides. "Answer me, Pepper. Are you alright?"

"Son," Howard began and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I think we should sit down for this. Dr. Yinsen and I analyzed the medical records you had sent to him, and the remainder that JARVIS compiled after you two passed out. What we found is…well, like I said. Let's sit down."

Tony narrowed his eyes in distrust, and for a moment he wondered if he was dreaming or if he was again trapped in a virtual reality courtesy of the Controller. With this thought in mind, he leaned down to Pepper's ear and whispered to her.

"When did I first tell you I love you?"

"Tony?" She furrowed her eyes.

"When?"

"Uhm…" she hesitated for a moment. "The cab. You didn't say it aloud, but I got the gist of it, in the cab."

Tony nodded at her, taking what he could get for now before he took her with him to sit with the doctor and his father. The redhead sat next to her boyfriend and as she stared down at their intertwined hands she wondered how much longer Tony would hold her after he found out what had occurred to her.

"OK. What's the deal?"

"Well, first of all, I'm happy you kids didn't kill each other. When you said you wanted to take Pepper out on a haunted house hunt, I didn't think you meant inside the temple, Tony." Howard jested, trying to ease the tension he could see pouring out of his son. "But, Tony, don't ever piss her off again. She can take you, from what I can see."

"Only because he wouldn't fight back," she added, trying if only for a moment to help him save face.

"Why are we here?"

"Because I brought you here," Howard responded, in a matter of fact. "JARVIS sent me a distress signal and I drove there as fast as I could. Not soon enough to stop you from passing out, but still fast enough."

"Distress signal? I don't remember setting up a procedure for that."

"You didn't. I did."

"What?" Tony's grip on Pepper tightened, but a simple pat from her on his arm made him relax again. "Why did you hack into my system?"

"Because I care, Tony. Because after Pepper was taken, I was afraid you would do something awful to yourself."

Tony exhaled and looked away from their eyes, knowing that at some point he had considered taking the easy way out. "Whatever."

"You're right. Whatever I did saved your lives." Howard said, not at all regretful of ignoring his son's request to leave him to his own devices and by himself.

"Anyway," Yinsen interjected, feeling the need to stop an already escalating argument between father and son. "Both you and Miss Potts have been cleared of major injury, and we also determined the cause for her catatonic state."

At hearing this, Tony's head snapped back to the conversation, his eyes hopeful as he watched the doctor bring up a simulation of what he believed was Pepper's brain. "You see, it turns out that Miss Potts is extremely susceptible to EMF waves. Being in your lab with so many electronic devices giving off these intense waves caused her to hallucinate. That, compounded with her experience during her captivity, triggered the episode you had the misfortune of encountering."

"EMF? This was caused by EMF? All of it?" A disbelieving Tony spat.

"Yes. We also detected similar amounts of it coming from the systems you installed in her home, which would probably explain why she is also hallucinating there. If you think about it, has she mentioned that she sees things that are not there anywhere else other than in her home and in your lab?"

Tony's eyes showed that he was searching his mind for an answer, or something that could disprove the doctor's theory, but when he found none that would irrevocably destroy the argument, he growled. "That's ridiculous! If Pepper has always been like this, why didn't she show it before? She spent almost every day with me at the lab for nearly TWO years and she never suffered an attack! It just doesn't make any sense."

"It actually does, son. You didn't have as many devices there before. You really went all out when she was gone, but, as you are already suspecting, it's not just the devices that triggered Pepper's sensitivity."

"So? What is it? I can reduce the EMF emanations in the lab and her house. But, what else can I do for her? What can I do to stop this from happening again?" He stared down at Pepper, who was yet to face him again.

"Pepper?" Howard spoke to her, as they had all agreed that it would be best if it was the redhead who told Tony the truth. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Pepper swallowed hard. "Do you mind giving us a minute?"

"A minute for what?" Tony asked, but when he saw Yinsen and Howard stand up and leave, Tony knew what she had meant.

Pepper rearranged her position in the chair so that she was facing Tony but did not look directly into his eyes, which caused the inventor to fear the worst. "Pepper…what's wrong? Are you ill? Are you dying?"

"No, I'm not dying."

"So, you _are_ ill?"

"I guess you can say that," she chuckled, bitterly. Tony could no longer stand the look on her face so he forced her to stare at him by lifting her chin and redirecting her face to his.

"Just tell me, Pepper. The sooner you tell me, the sooner we can fix it."

"You can't fix what's broken in me, Tony. Nobody can. Or, at least the one person who could've fixed it is no longer around to do it."

"No way, Pepper. There's always a way to solve problems; you just have to know where to look."

Pepper shook her head and pulled herself away from Tony's grip, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Remember the DNA test I had JARVIS run for me?"

"Yes?"

"And the pregnancy test?"

"Yes. It's still negative, right?"

Pepper nodded. "It is, but not because Gene didn't touch me."

"What?"

"When I was showering…I…I remembered some things. The EMF brought it all back. Things that I had forgotten…memories that Axonn-Karr didn't want me to have about Gene. I remembered what Gene did to me, and I lost it."

Tony's jaw clenched. "Are you saying that he did…?"

Pepper nodded slightly. "But it doesn't matter now. Axonn-Karr made it so that Gene couldn't get what he wanted; an heir."

"Why do I feel he did more than that?"

"Because he did. I took the pregnancy test because I was late, but it turns out that I can't get pregnant because Axonn altered my DNA."

"Altered, how? Are you like Gene now? Are you part Makluan?"

"No, not really. He just…well, genetically speaking, I'm no longer a girl."

"What?"

"It's hard to explain…or believe…I…Dr. Yinsen said that at a chromosome level, I'm practically genderless."

"What?" He asked again, his bright mind having a difficult time to process what Pepper was trying to explain to him. He knew he would eventually read the tests himself, but for now all he could focus on was the fact that Gene had actually hurt Pepper in more ways than he had possibly imagined, and the fact that Pepper was turning into something neither of them knew what it would lead her to become. "How is that even possible, Pepper?"

"Magic?"

"There's no such thing as magic."

"Then really advanced science not even you know about. Based on what I learned from Axonn, we are one of the least advanced species when it comes to technological progress."

"Why would he do that to you? How did he ever think that would protect you? Gene still did to you what he wanted."

"But the result he expected was not there because Axonn blocked my ability to be…a woman…or human, take your pick."

"So, what does that mean? Are you going to turn into something else? Someone else? A guy?"

Pepper shrugged. "I don't know. I'll just have to wait and see."

"We, Pepper. We just have to wait and see."

"No, Tony, I don't think this is going to be good for us. You…you don't deserve this. You had plans for your life. I…" she eyed her promise ring and slowly took it off. "I heard you telling them to my dad. I can't be part of those plans. I can no longer give you what you want."

The girl held the ring on the palm of her hand and waited for Tony to take it back, but when Tony shook his head at her, Pepper began to cry.

"You don't know what I want, Pepper. I can adjust. I can find a way to reverse what was done to you. I've been studying Makluan science more than my dad by now. I may be able to see things that he is not even aware of."

"Tony, I don't want you to. For once, I want you to listen to me and stop. I'm tired of this, and you must be, too. I'm done trying to fix this."

"Trying? We haven't even started, Pep! Aren't you even going to give it a chance?"

"I HAVE given it a chance and I nearly killed you!"

"Is that what this is about? You're scared of you and me sparring?"

"Sparring? Is that what you call getting your ass kicked by a freak?"

"I just didn't want to fight back, Pepper. Besides, without the EMF, you should be fine, right? If not, we can get some treatment for you…we can…"

"Will you STOP saying WE? There is no _WE_, Tony! There is you and me, and not necessarily together now that I'm turning into some…thing…"

"Yes, there is," he spat back, grabbed the ring and held onto her right hand. "One last chance, Pepper." He said as he slid the ring back onto her finger. "If you don't want to try after one last chance, I'll let it go. But not before that. We're both fucked up, Pepper. I still have to respond for the people in the car accident, and you still have not tried to cure whatever Axonn did to you."

"I…" she eyed the ring once more as she tried to think of what else to say, but she would be lying to herself if she said she did not want to try it one last time. "If it doesn't work…if it fails again…"

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Alright?"

"When…_when_ we come to it."

"If."

Pepper finally nodded and closed her eyes, hoping against hope that Tony was right.

xxxXXXxxx

The Baxter building itself was impressive, but more so was the fact that she was listening to two geniuses talk science, and she was apparently understanding most of what was being said. Thanks to her memories slowly returning to her, and the other ones that had been returning since her incident at the lab nearly a month ago, she was now able to recognize that Axonn-Karr had foreseen his and Gene's death, and he had wanted to pass on the legacy of his culture to her, simply because he had deemed her worthy of it; although the way in which the knowledge had been inherited nearly resulted in her killing her blue-eyed boy.

_You could've given me a heads-up, Axonn_, she thought with a sad smile, almost missing her capturer and companion of months. Despite the hard times that befell her during the time she was gone, for the first time in her life she felt as if her talents had been appreciated by other than a handful of people who probably had had no choice but to recognize her need for adventure.

_If only you'd left me as a woman, and not an IT._ Her chromosome makeup was still to return to normal, but the EMF sensitivity had decreased thanks to a wristlet Tony had built for her. Even though Tony did not believe in EMF sensitivity as it had never actually been scientifically proven to exist, Dr. Yinsen was adamant that it did exist, and as such had helped developed the device if only to give the redhead some peace of mind. She eyed the small contraption that looked like nothing more than a charm bracelet, but it was in fact an advanced form of wave neutralizing sensor based on some principles of Makluan science.

Makluan science; one of the reasons she was here. The other reason being Tony and his apparent Extremis malfunction. If worst came to worst and they were not able to find their answers here, she would at least have the honor of saying she had met the Fantastic Four in person.

"That's a possibility. What do you think, Potts?" Pepper heard only her name called, and she immediately turned to look at Dr. Richards and Tony. Dr. Richards was monitoring the devices he had hooked onto Tony, and Tony was sitting in a chair looking like a human surge protector – wires all over his body.

"Do what?" She asked as she stood up and walked over to the scientific duo.

"Were you not listening again?" Tony asked as he began pulling off the wires from his bare chest. "View too distracting?" he pointed to his chest and winked at her. Pepper rolled her eyes and shook her head, secretly glad that nothing bad had happened to them since the day at the lab.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," she responded and purposefully pulled on a wire with more force than needed, taking with it a handful of Tony's small chest hairs.

"Ow! That hurt, Pep."

"That was the plan," she smirked. "So, what did I miss?"

"Dr. Richards…"

"Reed," the doctor corrected the boy.

"_Reed _thinks that the Extremis has been in me for so long that maybe it has evolved into an entity of its own."

"Really?" Pepper arched a single brow. "And you believe that? No offense, Doc, but doesn't that sound like a little bit of a stretch?"

The moment the word left her mouth and her eyes landed on Mr. Fantastic's elongated hand, Pepper wanted to be eaten alive by the earth beneath her. She eyed Tony who gave her a mocking smile before she shifted her gaze to the amused hero. "I mean, I…I didn't meant to say that it was a stretch because, you know, you…you…are…like that…I just…Tony…he didn't use a lot of Extremis and none of my analyses show any proof that the virus is a separate entity…so…stretch. I mean, NOT a stretch…just…farfetched…that's the word: farfetched."

The two men remained silent and smiled at her, causing the redhead to throw her hands in the air. "Never mind," she began as Susan Storm walked inside the lab. "I'll just make myself invisible over here," the redhead said but then groaned when she saw Susan's eyebrows shoot to her forehead.

"I mean, not invisible as in…I didn't say that because you were walking in…I just…I…forget it. Sorry." Pepper said and busied herself walking around the lab. She had spent most of the time sitting in a chair watching and listening to the two men work, and frankly she was growing bored by this point.

Her walk took her to a display of trophies and awards with Dr. Richards' name, and she spent a few minutes admiring them in wonder. Once she grew bored of doing that as well, she took a step back without looking and hit a pile of containers that had been stacked under the table behind her, causing a ruckus that caught the attention of everyone else in the room.

"Everything OK, Pepper?" Tony asked.

"Yes, sorry. I just hit something." She gave Tony a thumbs-up as she kneeled down and picked up the containers. Once she restacked the containers she began lifting herself from the floor, but she miscalculated where the table began and hit the back of her head on it. "Dammit!"

"Pepper, what was that?"

"Nothing…I just…ugh…I hit myself…" she rubbed her head. "Damn…why does this thing have to be as hard as rock?" She asked as she straightened herself up only to see The Thing staring back at her with furrowed brows. "What? Seriously?" Pepper sighed incredulously. "Why are you here?" She asked the newcomer.

"I live here, Red."

"No, I mean, _why_ did you walk in when I'm putting my foot in my mouth?"

The Thing looked to his right and stared at Tony. "Is your girlfriend always this weird?" he pointed to the redhead.

"No. Sometimes she acts weirder than this."

"Tony! Look, I'm sorry Mister…, uh, Thing… I just…" she sighed. "Never mind, I'll just go walk around the tower. Call me when you're ready to go, Tony."

"Are you sure, Pepper?"

"Yeah, I'm really sure," she said as she turned around and waved at him and she walked backwards to the exit.

"Well, be careful, Pep."

"Relax, Tony. It's not like I'm going to set myself on fire or anything."

The smiles of all the people staring back at her made her freeze on the spot, and she did not have to look behind her to know she was not alone by the door. "He's behind me, isn't he?"

The sympathetic look Tony gave her was the only response she needed before she groaned, turned on her heels, covered her face from Johnny Storm's sight and silently walked out of the lab.


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Pepper stirred her newly prepared coffee – the fourth one she would have today. Her father and Marsha were watching television in the living room, and the redhead had practically been hiding in her room all day. Well, _hiding _was not the appropriate word. If it came down to it, she was merely _pulling a Tony Stark_.

Ever since the results of Reed Richard's tests had landed in her e-mail this morning, she had been working nonstop to use them to prove to Tony that he had not caused the car pileup. On his end, Tony was using the tests Reed had ran on Pepper to prove to her that she was not losing her humanity or gender, and that he could find out a way to get them both back.

She dropped the used spoon in the dishwashing machine and ran it, knowing that after she finished this cup she was due to sleep, anyway. It was nearly midnight on a Sunday, and she had to show up for her final driving lesson the next day, as early as 7 AM.

_I'm so gonna wing it_, the ginger thought as she walked out of the kitchen and headed to the stairs. Her father spared her a worried glance, seeing how much she had been working in the past few days, but he understood that she and Tony were trying to iron out – no pun intended – the consequences of Pepper's disappearance.

Truth be told, he was surprised they were still together, seeing as how Pepper had tried – and had almost succeeded – to kill him nearly six weeks ago, and how much trouble she had caused to him and the scientist's father and family doctor. He had no idea their feelings could be so resilient at such a young age, but he also remembered that at some point he and his late wife had been like that as well.

_It must be love_, the FBI man thought before he returned his attention to the movie once Pepper was out of sight.

The girl yawned loudly as her feet dragged on the wooden floors all the way to her room. Just as before when she had returned from pouring herself more coffee, she closed and locked the door behind her, walked directly to her workstation, and sat in the same swiveling chair she had been attached to since four in the morning today. Her Stark Pod was shining brightly next to her electronic table, letting her know that she had missed a text or a call.

She placed her cup of coffee on the table next to her other three cups, and then proceeded to grab the cell phone. She smiled widely when she saw Tony had sent her a text message, telling her how much he missed her and she responded that she missed him, too. They had not seen each other since the outing to the Baxter building, simply because the both of them had been so dang busy with their chores.

The phone lit up again almost instantly with another text message from the inventor, this one containing a picture of him holding a piece of paper asking her to go out on a date next weekend. She responded with a smile and a kiss, and Tony responded with a 'heck, yeah.' Everything seemed to be returning to normal – whatever normal meant for them, and she was so glad that she had listened to Tony's request to try working out the kinks one last time.

The only thing she feared, however, was that this moment of peace was just the calm before the appearance of a thunderstorm worthy of Thor.

Her eyes returned to her monitor and she took a sip of her coffee as she ran another simulation of Tony's Extremis virus. Thanks to Reed's advanced machines and test results, she had been able to create an algorithm that was able to read certain waves that Tony emanated when calling onto his Extremis powers, particularly when he tried to access and hack into computers. Her goal was to match these waves and their actions to how the traffic light algorithm had been affected to see if Tony's virus had actually had any involvement in the accident.

At first, the simulations of the virus he had infected himself with appeared to have had no discernable pattern. However, the more simulations she ran, and thanks to JARVIS' help, they had been able to see that the pattern pertained to how each computer was affected by Tony's will, rather than Tony's hacking always attacking the programming in the same way.

"Your virus is as complicated as you are, Mr. Stark," she told herself with a smile and set down her coffee. She entered the sequence's commands to run yet another simulation and stretched herself in her chair, eyeing the counter on the computer to realize this particular simulation – one that most resembled the traffic light algorithm, was going to take five minutes to complete.

As she waited for the simulation to be finished, she stared at her charm bracelet. Despite Tony's claim that EMF sensitivity was unproven, her hallucinations had disappeared when she had begun using the charm. The possible side effects of EMF did match the feelings of dread she had experienced the times she had seen Gene, and as Dr. Yinsen had pointed out, the hallucinations did occur only in her or Tony's home.

Her thoughts then shifted to her own theories about Gene and the diadem, which sadly made more sense than EMF. What if the power of the diadem was being confused with EMF? What if it was just a coincidence that she had not seen him anymore while she was wearing the bracelet? What if he was just lurking in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to strike?

What if she was slowly turning into Gene himself?

Pepper glanced at the countdown on the monitor, which showed two more minutes were needed for the simulation to end. Many things could happen in two minutes; two minutes was a very long time. It had only taken two minutes for Axonn to take her; it had only taken two minutes for Gene to take away something precious from her.

It had only taken two minutes for her to turn on Tony and nearly end his life.

_I just have to know_, the redhead thought and removed the charm bracelet from her wrist, holding her breath as she waited for the worse to happen. She felt a shiver run down her back and the hairs on her neck stood, but she remained calm. She then twirled in her chair as she had done so many times before, and stared directly at her dark room.

The only light around her was coming from the computer screen, and even her blinds and curtains were closed, preventing the eerie light of the moon from filtering through. She slowly eyed every corner of her room, making several passes on it just to be certain that she was still alone.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes?"

"What are the current EMF readings here?"

"Negligible, Miss Potts."

"What's negligible?"

"0.5"

"What were the readings the night Gene appeared to me in the kitchen?"

"10.5"

"What about the night he was here in the room?"

"12.5"

"And what about when Tony came home late that night after meeting up with Reed?"

"15.5"

"And the night I went cuckoo in the shower?"

"30.2"

"Interesting," she mused. "Can you produce EMF?"

"Yes, but it is against Mr. Stark's orders."

"But you can?"

"Yes, if it is necessary."

"Would it be considered necessary for a science experiment?"

"That could qualify as necessary."

"Get it ready," she ordered. "I'll tell you when to start."

The beeping of her computer startled her until she realized it symbolized the simulation was completed, and she casted aside her current doubts and fears to analyze the results.

"What do we have here?" Pepper asked herself and leaned closer to the screen, staring at the familiar pattern that appeared on the monitor. Her hand flew to her mouse and she cleared her desktop so that she could access previous saved files of Tony using the Extremis. She pulled up the data on those cases and compared them to what she had extracted just now. She narrowed her eyes at the results, and something inside of her stirred, as if her mind was trying to tell her that she had seen these _new_ patterns before.

She rested her head on her upturned right hand and tapped on the table with her left fingers as she stared into space, forcing her mind to pinpoint where she had seen an algorithm like this before. She knew it had been a long time ago since her recent memory had been almost impeccable thanks to the wonders of Axonn's gifts for her. She would have much rather kept the strength and agility she had displayed under her schizophrenic episode, however, but beggars could definitely not be choosers.

"It's just too precise," she mused as she stared at the results on the screen. "Too precise to be human made."

At her words, her fingers suddenly stopped tapping and her eyes widened in shock. She was aware that she was tired as hell and could be very well drawing at straws at this point, but as she had said before, she became more alert under pressure.

"It can't be," she whispered and swallowed hard as her hands returned to the keyboard to pull up information from the archives. She clicked and typed like mad until the particular file she was looking for was pulled up. She then extracted similar data points to run another simulation and waited nervously for the results.

"Please don't let it be this…please, please…don't…"

She cracked her knuckles and then eyed her Stark Pod, grabbing it with trembling hands to be ready to give Tony the warning she feared she had to give. The simulation still had three more minutes to go, so she concentrated on thinking of an action plan to implement in case her theory proved to be true. If it were true, Tony Stark was never responsible for the car pileup, or the EMF wave increase, or…

"The blackout," Pepper said in a low voice. "The blackout was no accident…it was a…"

"Miss Potts?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sensing a stressing increase in your vital signs, are you alright?"

"I…" Pepper swallowed the knot on her throat. "I'm not sure, JARVIS."

"Would you like me to contact Mr. Stark?"

"No. No, I'll call him…right now…" she added the last bit as she slid open her phone and dialed Tony's number. Her eyes were glued to the last minute of the simulation and waited for the phone to ring, but after ten seconds of no sound, Pepper pulled away the phone from her ear and stared at it.

"No signal?" She scoffed. "Why the hell don't I have any signal? JARVIS? Can you get a hold of Tony?"

"One moment, please." The AI responded and it went silent for what seemed like an eternity to the redhead. She was about to call out to the AI again but he spoke up first. "It appears we have lost connection with the server, Miss Potts."

"Tony's server, why? Can you reroute through the satellite?"

"The satellite appears to be offline as well."

"What? Why is the satellite offline?" Pepper began but when she heard the beeping of her computer again, her eyes showed her what she had not wanted to see. "Oh, no…he's alive…he…he's here…JARVIS! Tony, we have to warn him!"

"I…" The AI hesitated. "Error…Miss…Potts…error…type II…"

Pepper stood up from her chair and looked at the ceiling, her heart pounding loudly in her temples. "JARVIS, hang on! Don't…is he with Tony? Is Tony in danger?"

"Miss Potts…error…" JARVIS repeated. "Communication error…commencing emergency lockdown sequence…initiate protocol….3….8…9…"

"NO!" Pepper screamed and ran back to her computer, keying on it like crazy as she tried to prevent what she knew was happening. It could not end like this, not when she had finally figured out what was wrong; not when she finally knew who was responsible for her and Tony's misery. After a few seconds of helping JARVIS reroute himself to host on the server in her house, the AI returned to full function long enough to speak words that left her cold.

"There is another system."

"JARVIS?" her voice almost broke.

"There is…another system. Unable to…t-t-to-o-o…"

Pepper's eyes landed on the red computer screen, blinking and mocking her inability to prevent the final wish of the undercover assailant of her life. As she took in deep breaths and the monitor informed her that the emergency lockdown had failed, she heard the dying voice of the faithful AI echoing in the now dangerous home.

"There-e-e-e…is-s-s-s an-n-nothee-e-r-r-r…s-s-s-ytem-m-m-m…"

The house went dark.

xxxXXXxxx

_"Heck yeah!" _Tony replied to Pepper's text and set down his pod before returning his attention to the computer screen. He had great news for the ginger, which involved a possible cure for her chromosome issue, and he was excited about letting her know of it during their date. Now that he thought about it, they were due for a real date that did not involve anyone else but them, as everyone and their mother seemed to always end up crashing their attempts at having a normal teenager outing.

"We are not normal, though" the inventor reminded himself. "If we were normal, it would be so boring," he chuckled.

Then again, some normalcy never hurt anyone.

Yet.

"JARVIS, let's call it a night," he stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "Power down everything but keep monitoring the DNA simulation for Pepper's cure, and wake me up at eight."

"Are you certain that only five hours of sleep will hold you up through the day? You do have to meet with Mr. Stark Sr. at 12 PM to review the annual income reports for Stark Solutions."

"Ugh, darn it! I forgot about that. Make it ten, then," the inventor amended his command and stood up from his chair and headed in the direction of his room.

"Will do, sir. Initiating powering down se… que…. initiating… initiating…"

"JARVIS?"

"Sequence…failed…restarting…alert…"

Tony stood in place and stared up at the ceiling with furrowed brows for a brief moment before he walked up to his main computer again and pulled up the current status and specs for the server where JARVIS was hosted. He could see the AI trying to comply with its creator's request, but he was being incredible unsuccessful thus far for a reason unknown.

The boy then pulled out his pod from his pocket with the intention of contacting his girlfriend to check if JARVIS was also malfunctioning on her end and ask if she was again meddling with its code or perhaps running backups of it, but when his call did not go through, Tony just _knew_ something else was at play. "What the hell? Why is our satellite offline?"

"Communication error…type…type…" The AI tried its best to relay the message, but it was having a difficult time doing so when his power sources and databases were being tampered with by outside forces. "Mr. Stark… initiating… lockdown… emergency… protocol…"

Tony pulled up his virtual keyboard and began running his own investigation to determine why his ever trusty AI was failing him, and in the process of doing so he saw an incoming report that left him breathless. Not wanting to jump to conclusions, he first worked his magic to provide the AI with some assistance to pull itself together, all the while staring at the little blinking message on the bottom right corner of his screen.

"JARVIS, you there?" Tony called out when he completed his backup sequence. "JARVIS, are you online?"

"Rebooting."

"What? No! No rebooting!"

"Rebooting."

"Damn!" Tony's attention shifted to the message he had been partially ignoring for the last minute, and when he opened it up, his heart stopped. Before him, in bold, red letters was a message that stated that the Potts' residence had been compromised.

_Compromised._ He never truly liked that word.

"_What_ is going _on_?"

Tony ran toward his backup computer to check up on the Stark Solutions satellite firmware, loaded it and tried his best to restart the uplink. After three unsuccessful attempts, Tony was left with no other option but to put on his suit and fly to California himself. He closed his eyes and called upon his armor, and what should have taken less than ten seconds to complete never actually occurred.

The inventor opened his eyes again expecting to see his suit covering every inch of his body, but instead he saw the lights had gone out in the temple and the suit had not even attempted to come to him. He waited in place for a minute for the backup generator to kick in, but when it did not, the genius felt something was very, very wrong.

"JARVIS?"

The silence that followed his statement left him frozen in place for another minute until the familiar buzzing of his systems coming back online was heard. The lights turned on again and the computers began to restart. He took small steps toward his server, staring at it with cautious eyes, even getting the feeling that he was being prowled by it somehow. Using his Extremis gifts, the inventor began taking a virtual peek inside the system. His mind raced as it broke down every piece of code line inside, searching for the malfunction that had nearly caused his entire operating system to short circuit. He expected a virus or an infinite loop to be the culprit, but when he found what he was looking for, it was much worse than expected.

Once found, the assailant fought back.

Tony felt the virtual attack to his brain like a bolt of lightning, pushing him off his feet and sending him flying back and hitting his worktable, causing a mess in the process. He was quickly engulfed by his tools and blueprints, some of which were digging themselves in his back and causing a ridiculous amount of pain.

"JARVIS!"

"Initiating emergency lockdown sequence. Intruder alert."

"No shit!" Tony spat as he pulled himself up to a sitting position on the floor, shook his head, and then stood up from the broken worktable. He again tried calling on his Mark III armor, and when it did not work again, he tried calling on any suit that would respond; any protection was better than none. The result, however, was the same: none of his suits reacted to his command.

But they reacted to _his_.

_I have to get to Pepper. I have to get to her right now._

The sound of the chute locking down and the temple going into emergency lockdown made the situation just that much unnerving to the inventor; he was now trapped in his home, and he was_ not_ alone.

"There is another system," the AI spoke up.

"What?"

"There is…another…system…cannot…override…compromised system…error…"

"JARVIS, initiate protocol 389."

"Un…un-n-n-a-ble-ble…"

"JARVIS?"

The lights went out again, but this time the main computer screen remained on, showing to Tony the face of the intruder in his lab. If the inventor ever had wondered what a face of utter fear looked like on him, this was the best time to snap a picture of it while he stared back into those angry, familiar, piercing eyes.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

"How?" Tony whispered and took a shaky step back away from his screen, not believing the image his eyes were processing for him. His eyes then landed on the metal pods above him that kept his suits while not in use, and he held back a gasp when they opened up on their own accord to allow the armors to exit and land next to him. He twirled in place and stared at each and every single one of his creations standing near him and forming a circle around him, all booted up and ready to attack. Despite his best attempts at regaining control over them, none of his armors listened to their creator's commands, leaving the unprotected Tony Stark screwed up beyond help.

"Technology," Tony heard the attacker say and he returned his eyes to the screen. "Isn't it the best? Especially computers; they're in everything and everywhere today. Humans don't realize just how much they rely on them. Don't they?"

"I thought you were dead," Tony said, trying his best to hide the terror that overcame him.

"Define 'dead.'" The voice responded in a mocking tone. "Hammer did kill my body, but he at least let me live through my machines even if I was his slave. But you…Tony Stark…_Iron Man_…you tried to kill the rest of my soul."

"We had a deal, Fix," Tony pointed a finger towards the floating head on the screen. "You asked me to help you stop Hammer – you never said anything about helping you turn him into a zombie. What did you expect me to do? You changed your plan, so I changed mine."

"Plans change, Stark. You oughta know about it. Didn't your plan to live happily ever after with the late Miss Potts change?"

"That's still the plan, Mr. Fix. I don't believe you killed her. She's smarter than you. If Gene Khan and a Makluan lizard couldn't kill her, you have no chance against her."

The virtual man chuckled and shook his head. "Didn't you get the memo? Her place was the first one I attacked. When your system notified you that her home had been compromised, it really meant to tell you that she's dead. She, the gorgeous redhead; the kindhearted, albeit quite nosey, Virgil Potts; and, his lovely girlfriend, Marsha Ray. Potts owed me, anyway. If it wasn't for him and his daughter I'd still be in business and would've never had to resort to serving Hammer in the first place."

"If you think a little electric shutoff and your ugly face on her screens are going to scare her, you're dead wrong. You don't know what she can do."

"What? You mean lose her senses to EMF?" Fix laughed aloud when Tony's eyes widened. "I told you, Tony. Computers are everywhere; hear everything, see it all. It was a pleasure watching your every move…every time you acted like a pathetic, lovesick puppy while she was gone. Every time you whispered sweet nothings in her ear…every time you gave me more ammunition to find your weak spot…to plan my revenge on you."

Tony was stunned silent, finally piecing everything together. Why had he not seen it coming? Destroying computer viruses was not his forte; otherwise Technovore would have not come back. His programming skills were such that his viruses were self-evolving, just as Andros Stark had once said. Why did he never think to double-check Mr. Fix was truly gone, especially after what he had tried to pull on Pepper by sending Whiplash to kill her? How could he, who was considered to be the smartest young man on this planet, not contemplate the possibility that perhaps his virtual enemy was not actually gone?

"But, alas, all good things come to an end," Fix said. "And it would've ended much sooner if you had died in that car accident like you were supposed to. Or perhaps during the blackout…or better yet, in the hands of the well-endowed Miss Potts."

"You caused Pepper to attack me? You caused the crash? And the blackout?"

"Who else?" Fix scoffed. "Oh, yes! You thought you had caused that wonderful car accident, huh? Always so self-centered, Tony. Always thinking you're God's gift to the world. Of course I caused that accident! The light was green, wasn't it?"

"But, how…I tried it…I did it again…later on, and…"

"And what?" Fix sneered. "I let you see what you wanted to see. I wanted you to think it was you, seeing as you and your lady friend refused to die quietly. It would have been funny to see you go to jail for it like you were thinking about doing, Tony. It would've been fucking hilarious."

"You…you said this was about your revenge on me, right?" Tony asked, trying anything he could to think of a way out of the predicament he was in. "Why bring Pepper into this?"

"Are you really asking me this? Do you really not know or are you pretending so that you can stall? There is no getting out of this, Tony. I have complete control over your suits, your satellite, your father's home, and everything and everyone that has a relationship with you. Even your little military friend will get a visit from me after I'm done with you."

Tony scoffed. "And you say I'm self-centered," the inventor whispered before he hacked into the computer with Extremis and tried to disable Fix in the same way he had done so before. The AI, however, knew better by now and sent an electric shock to Tony's brain – just as he had done so before, bringing the young man to his knees.

"I learned, Tony. You didn't."

"I thought you were watching me…" Tony spat, still on all fours. "You should know I've learned _a lot_."

"Not what you should've been learning. I was watching you. I observed you and her. And I have to say that it's a damn shame you never got to see her the way I did. Who would've thought the scrawny girl would turn out to be such a fine looking woman?"

Tony lifted his face and glared at the screen, earning him a chuckle from the evil AI. "What? Jealous that I got to see her in fewer clothes than you did? I mean, other than that one time in the shower, but I don't think that counts, right?"

"Damn you," this time, Tony did not hold back.

And neither did Fix.

The suits of armor all attacked Tony at the same time, and the inventor alternated between physically defending himself from the suits and trying to hack into them with Extremis. He could no longer rely on JARVIS; the AI was down for the count, and he knew he had no chance of escaping the tracking abilities of Fix.

He was on his own.

And all he could do for now was making sure he went down fighting.

_Pepper…I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry._ His eyes briefly stared at the entrance door where she had crawled her way in a few months ago, amidst the rain and amidst the odds of her safe return; the moment the countdown for the end of their lives had begun. _I should've listened to you. I should've listened to you when you said it was not me who caused the accident. I should've helped you search for the answer!_

And, above all, he should have listened to her when she had said that not being together was for the best. Maybe not in the short-term reality of how much it would hurt them both, but in the long-term reassurance that she would have a chance to live her life, restore what she had lost, away from him; away from the danger he had put her in.

_But now…it's too late, Pep. I've let you down, again._

"AH!" Tony screamed and he was thrown in the air and against a wall. Memories of his fight with Pepper returned to him, and he almost wished he had learned something more from her other than just dodging her. She had become a fierce fighter, much so like Gene and the Makluan, and had it not been for his silly luck that night, he would had not been able to stop her in time.

_I'm done with this_; Tony thought and slammed the incoming Artic Armor with all the energy he could from the Extremis. He knew he could not regain control over any of the suits while Fix was around, but that did not mean he could not pull the same trick on Fix that the AI had pulled on the inventor. Before his eyes, the Artic Armor began malfunctioning, shaking violently and hitting its peers in its dying stage. After a few more painfully long seconds, the Artic Armor was finally down for the count.

"That's alright, Stark," Fix shrugged it off. "There are still five more to go."

_Only five?_ Tony looked around himself to play close attention to what was occurring around him as just a few seconds ago his only concern had been to avoid being pulverized by his own creations. The Marks I, II and III, the Stealth Armor, as well as the Space Armor were still attacking him, and his backpack suit was down for the count, having been smashed by the Artic Armor at some point during battle. The inventor gulped when he realized that his two most potent suits, War Machine and the Hulk Buster, were yet to join the attack.

"That's correct, Tony," Fix smiled. "I'm saving the best for last."

_How did he know what I was thinking?_

"Because I can read your thoughts. You see, Stark. You're no longer human, not much more than your redheaded friend, I should say. Your body might still be organic, but thanks to Extremis, your central nervous system is hardwired to your machines…any machine…any computer…any AI."

"Like you."

"Like me."

Despite the dreadful situation, Tony smiled, for the first time surprising the intruder in his home. "What's so amusing, Stark?"

"What? Can't read my mind all of a sudden? Or are you just afraid to?"

Fix narrowed his eyes at the boy, knowing damn well what he meant. "You wouldn't dare."

"Why not?" Tony challenged, noticing that even the suits had stopped attacking him. "You aren't leaving me much of a choice, are you?"

"I didn't take you for a quitter."

"I'm not. I don't _have_ anything to quit," Tony reasoned, his smile growing wide with the simplicity of his plan. "You said you now own everything I ever had. You're planning on taking out Rhodey and my dad, if you haven't already, and you've already murdered my girl," Tony swallowed hard at the last part. "If you ask me, taking you down with me seems like the most reasonable option."

"Sounds more to me like a dead's man last struggle. Lame coming from you, Stark."

Tony shrugged. "Lamezoid," he chuckled as he quoted his fallen redhead. "Lamezoid's a good word."

"You're pathetic attempts at stalling won't stop me."

"They're not attempts, Fix. I promise you that."

"Like you promised her you would marry her? That type of promise?"

"No. More like the death do us part, type. And you are the death and I'm the part."

"Fool."

"I used to be."

Tony closed his eyes and ignored the pain his body was feeling at being attacked by the suits. They tossed him back and forth as if he was nothing but a rag doll, but Tony did not care. His mind was working overtime in using the one weakness Fix had informed him of, attacking the AI with his own abilities.

"AAAHH!" Mr. Fix screamed, his head shaking back and forth. "GET OUT OF ME, STARK!"

But Tony did not relent. He had once before experienced the power of extreme hacking someone's mind, and he had never thought he would ever be grateful for the Controller's attempt at using VR against him. It had been good practice for what he was doing to Fix now.

However, Mr. Fix was not ready to die again.

In a flash and after the Space Suit, the Stealth Armor, and the Mark I armor were short circuited by the genius, Mr. Fix sent back an attack of his own. Tony screamed in pain when he felt electric shocks ransack his body, and he fell to the ground, face down. The Marks II and III were still around him, but now simply just stared down at the inventor, waiting for Fix's next command.

Tony groaned as he slowly pushed himself up with his hands, but as soon as he was on all fours, the Mark II kicked him in the stomach, forcing the boy to fall down on his face again. His mind was then confronted by images placed there by Fix, showing him memories of Pepper's smiling face, Rhodey rolling his eyes at him, and even his own father giving him an approving smile.

The blue-eyed boy felt tears come to his eyes, both cursing and thanking the AI for the last images he had been forced to see before his certain death. Tony wanted Fix to maintain a close connection with him as it would make it easier on the scientist to erase Fix from virtual reality – just like he should have made sure of the first time. Although, it would have been a much better option to live to tell the story.

Tony felt one of his armors lift him from the floor by his arm, and the second armor grabbed his other arm, making him kneel in front of the floating head's image, very much so as he had done to Pepper once before. He gave Fix a lopsided smile, feeling all will to live leave his soul. His eyes did not show his fear when the last two pods opened up, and he did not even flinch when the War Machine and Hulk Buster armors landed in front of him.

"How about this, Tony?" Fix asked. "Killed by your two most powerful creations. How ironic, isn't it?"

Tony did not respond and just closed his eyes, putting all his attention and efforts into destroying the AI. He heard and felt the armors preparing every piece of artillery available in them before every weapon that he himself had loaded on those two suits was aimed at him. Even the Marks II and III aimed one of their repulsors at the billionaire, all waiting patiently for the order to strike.

"Goodbye, Tony Stark."

"Goodbye, Mr. Fix."

xxxXXXxxx

He felt something hitting him full force, in a similar fashion to what he had felt when the bright light had engulfed him when his father's plane had been attacked. However, as opposed to the first time, this light felt warm and even…tender, if light could even be described as such.

"Are you alright?" Tony heard the familiar gruff voice ask him, and he finally opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the floor, or what could be seen of it as it was now littered with pieces of scraps that had once been his beloved suits. The Mark II and III lay to either side of him, both torn and bent out of recognizable shape other than for the red and gold markings on them. He then chanced a look behind him to see the dark, burned marks on the wall that had undoubtedly come from the heat released by the light or the suits' attack.

"Stark?"

The inventor took in a deep breath to look up and in front of him, to a sight he thought he would never see again. The armor was still black, thick and imposing, and the ten rings of power shone brightly on its metal fingers. Beyond the suit of armor of his old rival lay the mashed remains of the Hulk Buster and War Machine, and beyond that his mainframe and servers were toasted.

"I thought you were dead," Fix said, looking as surprised as Tony felt.

"Funny," the newcomer responded. "I thought you were, too."

The Mandarin then raised the rings and aimed them at the computer screen, causing Fix to laugh aloud.

"Your magic cannot stop me, Mandarin. You may have destroyed the suits with brute force, but that is not the way to destroy me."

"It's not magic," the Mandarin corrected Fix. "It's absolute power. It's science you cannot hope to ever comprehend."

"Try me."

"Already did," Mandarin responded and immediately Fix froze up.

"What? What is happening to me?" The AI asked, his voice filled with fear. "No…NO! STOP THIS! I…I can't die…I'm immortal!"

"No. _I_ am immortal," Mandarin said before the rings lit up again, brighter than before. Tony's eyes were glued to the screen, and he could almost feel the pain Fix was going through. He was so happy he had lost connection with the AI or he would have been in the same boat with him; slowly being torn to pieces, code line by code line.

"How are you doing this? It's not happening…you aren't even supposed to be…be…al…al…error…error-r-r…"

Mandarin increased the power being released on the AI, and soon afterwards a high-pitched, desperate howl let him and Tony know that Mr. Fix was truly no more. The silence that followed the painful death of the _other system_ that had taken over JARVIS' system was deafening until Tony finally found his voice.

"I can't believe this," he began. "Gene, what are you doing here? How did you even know I was in trouble?"

"I know it all, Stark." Mandarin responded, his back facing Tony who by now was slowly trying to get up from the floor. "And, it's not Gene."

"What?"

The rings of power lit up and their swirling light engulfed the suit in a move Tony recognized as the armor being retracted back into them, leaving the human underneath exposed to the inventor's wide eyes. "It's Pepper," she responded as she looked over her shoulder to face him. "I'm the Mandarin now."

* * *

**A/N:** Gene was never there…muahahaha! Who saw it coming? Anyone? Nobody? What about the fact that in a fic called Broken, the main villain is called Fix? Get it? Broken? Fix…Err…Not a fan of irony, huh? Oh, well…I tried…


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

_Two years later…_

"Hey, Pepper?" James knocked on the door. "Are you ready? The officiant just arrived." James opened the door to the waiting room the ginger was in where she was making sure her makeup and dress were impeccable. The young man smiled brightly at her and walked over to her friend, giving her an approving nod of her attire. "Wow, Pepper. If you weren't already taken, I'd marry you."

Pepper laughed nervously and shook her head. "You're not helping, James. I'm already nervous as it is. Is my dad ready?"

"More than you, I think. Highly ironic, if you ask me."

"Ugh, shut up. Let's go," Pepper snapped at him and followed the snickering man out of the room and down the hall where her father was waiting for her. "Hi, Dad. Are you ready for this?"

"As much as I'm going to ever be," the FBI man shrugged. "How about you? You can still back out of it, you know?"

She shook her head vehemently. "No way. Not _that_ scared," she responded before she turned to her left to stare at Rhodey. "Is Tony here?"

"Left him where he's supposed to be."

"Alright. OK. Then…I guess this is it, huh?"

"Guess so," Rhodey said with a nod and began walking away from her and to where the ceremony was taking place. "See you in a little bit, Pepper."

"Yes, Rhodey," she responded before she exhaled slowly and watched Rhodes disappear around the corner. "The power of ten Makluan rings in me, and I'm getting the jitters for walking down the aisle."

Virgil chuckled and offered his daughter his arm. The redhead accepted it and snaked her own shaky arm around his, and he then placed his palm on her hand. "You look beautiful, Patricia."

"You don't look too bad yourself, Daddy."

"Well, us Potts age gracefully, or so I have been told."

"Not lying," she winked at her dad before she heard the announcement that the ceremony was about to start. "That's our cue," she added and they both walked down the narrow hall, around the corner and to the entrance of the small events room at the hotel.

As they had both expected, the guests had already arrived and stood up as soon as they saw Pepper and Virgil appear by the door, and Pepper's smile widened when she saw Tony standing at the front of the room. He winked at her from afar and Pepper had to take in deep breaths to hide her highly inappropriate blush.

The change in the music informed daughter and father that they had to begin their walk, and as rehearsed so many times before, they did so in unison. Pepper could feel the eyes of everyone on them, but she contained the nervous shake of her hands by gripping her father's arm even tighter. Virgil chuckled light enough for only Pepper to hear, and she practically snorted in response.

The distance between the front of the room where the awaiting officiant stood and the middle of the aisle where Pepper and Virgil were currently on began to shorten and shorten until they both reached the steps of the altar. With a slight nod to the officiant, Pepper let go of Virgil's arm before she leaned in and kissed her dad's cheek, tears already forming in her eyes before she had anticipated them to be there.

"I'm so happy for you, Dad."

"Thank you, Pepper," the man responded. "We couldn't have done it without you. If it wasn't for you…"

"Sshh," she stopped him, knowing very well what he was about to say. "Your bride is coming; smile," she whispered to him when she heard the bridal march begin and she took a step back, mirroring Tony's position on the groom's side of the room. As the Maid of Honor, Pepper had to make sure everything went smooth for everyone, which included making sure Tony and his dad arrived on time to give away the bride.

All eyes in the room shifted from staring at Virgil to starting at the bride standing by the entrance of the room, securely held by Howard Stark's arm. Just as Pepper and Virgil had just done, Marsha and Howard began their uniform walk down the aisle, causing the guests to begin sniffling in joy. Marsha's white dress was very conservative despite having the body to show off a more revealing outfit, but it just was not her style.

When Howard and Marsha finally arrived to the altar, as customary the officiant asked who was giving away the bride, and after Howard stated it was he and walked over to the side to join Tony, the long-awaited ceremony began. Pepper's eyes were everywhere during the ceremony, her prying instincts making sure everything was perfect for the couple, and thanks to her Makluan influence, it truly was.

xxxXXXxxx

The party had ended an hour ago, and after making sure every guest had been thanked and sent home with a parting gift, the night Californian breeze found the redhead sitting in a lounge chair by the hotel's pool, shoes forgotten on the floor. Her feet were aching like mad after being on her feet for hours in the high heels she had chosen to wear for the event, and she now realized it had been a mistake wearing such wonderful-looking albeit uncomfortable shoes. She had never been in charge of a wedding before, and she had not been aware of how demanding the job could be. Next time she was responsible for making sure a couple got married, she was going to make sure she wore tennis shoes…and maybe shorts, too.

Hell, even her Mandarin armor boots were more comfortable than the heels she had worn tonight!

Her Mandarin armor…she was still not used to that little fact of life.

It had been exactly two years ago today that she had finally seen what she was becoming, what Axonn-Karr had planned for her, what Gene had been warning her about. It was now, two years later, that she finally made sense of the difficult times she and Tony had lived through…and survived.

In retrospect, the most difficult thing she had to do was explaining to Tony about what it meant for her to take on the mantle of his once mortal enemy. It meant that Iron Man – should he choose to stay with Pepper – had the decision to make of either becoming the Mandarin himself, or accepting that Pepper would be the Mandarin for the rest of her life – a decision he was still to make to this day.

And it also meant accepting the fact that by default, one of her kids would be the next one in line; his kids if he chose to marry her despite her baggage. It was now that she truly understood the weight that Gene Khan had carried on his shoulders; the encumbrance of the Makluan heritage that now lived in her.

And to think that Gene had been the good guy in all of this!

At first she had been utterly pissed off at Axonn-Karr for not telling her she had been bestowed with the dragonseed, against her will and without her knowledge – just as Gene had predicted all along. She felt like a fool for ever believing the Makluan would not try for his race to live on through her, and she hated herself even more for forgetting what had really occurred when she had been taken prisoner of the Makluan.

She had forgotten that Gene had been trying to save her every time she thought he was stalking them after the rings had been taken from him. He had never touched her in the ways she thought he had; it had all been Axonn's way of preventing her from finding out her fate had already been decided for her. Gene had simply been trying to spare her the pain, the responsibility, the burden of being the next Mandarin.

All this time, Gene had been trying to save her.

If it had not been for Mr. Fix attacking her home she would have never unleashed those memories. If she had not reached the point Axonn needed her to be in order for the dragonseed to wake up in her, she would have never known that the Makluan Guardian had left the rings in her. She would have never realized her memories of the six months of captivity she had originally had in her mind when she was returned to Earth had been a lie: a lie made by Axonn to prepare her for what was to come.

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh, remembering how everything had unraveled for her. Her visions of Gene were hallucinations caused by Axonn, keeping her from finding out the truth until she was ready to face it. EMF was never the cause, and her attack on Tony had merely been a lesson she had to endure to receive the ability to understand Makluan science. Just as many of the previous Makluan temple guardians had said: she was not worthy…until she was.

Her thoughts returned to today's ceremony, particularly the part where her father had wanted to thank her again for saving their lives. It had been her rage and her need to protect them and Tony that had broken the seal Axonn had left behind, enabling her to becoming who she was today: the first female Mandarin.

The events of that night were the reason why Marsha and Virgil had chosen to get married on this date, to put a positive spin on the night they had almost died at the hands of a fucking computerized haunted house possessed by the master of the VR world.

Then, there was Tony, who had been shocked speechless when he saw Pepper appear out of the Mandarin's armor before his very own eyes. She had feared he would leave her, try to stop her, deny what she had become, but he had done none. He had embraced her instead, apologized for not trusting her instincts, and promised her never to leave again.

And, he had not. Never again did they suggest breaking up. Never again, to this day, had either of them ignored their gut feeling, their knowledge, and their bond. It had taken them this far, and Pepper could not wait to see where it would lead them from now on.

"Are you planning on sleeping at all tonight?" She heard his voice approaching her and she could not help the smile that adorned her tired face. He sat In the chair next to her, suit jacket in his hands, and he began taking off his shoes and removing his tie. "I never knew a wedding could be so exhausting."

Pepper scoffed. "Only if you're not the one getting married or so I've heard. Besides, what do you have to complain about? You got to watch a stripper dance last night." She responded, referring to her father's bachelor party – which she had organized, too.

"Well, there is _that_…"

"Mmhhh…" Pepper shook her head, eyes still closed.

"But I'd rather get a striptease show from you."

"Tony!" Her eyes snapped open in an instant. "Why don't you just wait until you turn 21, huh? That way you can walk into a bar without faking an ID – or bribing the guard, and see all the stripping you want to see."

"That's ridiculous, Pepper. I don't need to be 21 to watch you strip. We have a hotel room right up there," he pointed to their balcony. "You can strip there right now."

"Will you stop that?" She snapped her fingers and the sleeve of the jacket came to life and slapped the living crud out of the smiling millionaire. He remained unfazed.

"Hey! No powers when I'm not in the suit."

"Then stop talking about stripping."

"Why? You do realize it's gonna happen when we get married, right?"

"Tony," she warned. "If you say the word 'stripping' again, I'm going to make sure it's my grandma who strips for you."

"But, your grandma's dead."

"Precisely."

"Harsh, Potts," he said as he stood up from the chair. "I like it," he added and pulled her up with him. Despite her fake annoyed face, she let him surround her waist with his arms, and she surrounded his shoulders and neck with her own arms. He then pulled the hairband she had used to hold her hair while she monitored clean up duty, and her now even longer red tresses cascaded down her shoulders and back. He brushed her sideway hair away from her face and ran his fingers down her cheek and neck, and down to the tips of her hair.

"Are we dancing to invisible music, now?" The redhead asked when he began swaying their hips from side to side in a slow motion.

"It's the least you can do for me, Pep. That reception lasted four freakin' hours and I didn't get to dance with you once. I think even the janitor asked you to dance, but I never got a chance."

Pepper gave him an apologetic smile and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry about that. I just…well…I never thought my dad would ever marry again. I had to make sure he was happy and taken care of; he deserved it after putting his life on hold for me."

"I know, Pepper," he kissed her forehead. "I'm just giving you a hard time. Everything was perfect. Your dad was very, very happy. And so was Marsha. You did an awesome job."

"Thank you, Tony," she said, closed her eyes and rested the side of her face on his chest.

They remained quiet for a while, dancing to the silent music until Tony spoke up. "Do you feel like planning another wedding?"

"Why?"

"My dad is proposing to Trish this weekend."

Pepper pulled away from Tony with shocked eyes and a wide smile on her face. "Are you serious? You're joking, right? No? You serious? You _are _serious! Oh, my God!"

"Yeah," Tony chuckled, never growing tired of Pepper's constant questioning. "He showed me the ring and everything."

"Oh, wow! That's just amazing, Tony. I'm so happy they really hit it off."

"Well, how couldn't they? Trish has been in the company forever; she practically took care of me and my dad after my mom died. Might as well get some in exchange, huh?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"TONY! Seriously!" She slapped him on the chest. "Did you suddenly become obsessed with sex or something? Why do you turn everything into that?"

"Not everything," he rolled his eyes. "Besides, what do you expect me to think about when I see you walking around in those tight outfits you wear now?"

"They are not meant to entice you, Stark. They just fit best under the Mandarin armor. I've already explained this to you."

"I know you have, and I've heard you, but my explanation is much better than yours."

"Your explanation being?"

"That you're trying to entice me." He insisted with a look that said he absolutely believed what he had just said.

Pepper sighed. "I think you need a cold shower, Stark. You really need to calm down the hormones."

"Huh…" Tony pursed his lips. "Yeah, you're right. I need to cool down…but so do you…"

"What…Tony…no…no!"

Before she could continue protesting, Tony grabbed Pepper by her hips, loaded her onto his shoulder and then jumped inside the pool with her in tow. Once inside the pool he released Pepper, and the two of them quickly rose to the surface for air. Pepper was glaring at him like never before, and it was then that Tony remembered he was wearing a dry-wash only tux.

"Oh, shit. Pepper, I forgot."

"You…you…Tony…Stark…" she said as she swam toward him, shivering like mad because the water was cold. It was December, after all. "Look at what you've done! Do you know how long it took me to find that tux for you? What the hell are you supposed to wear to your dad's wedding now?"

"Uhm, my armor?"

"Ugh!" The redhead began walking toward the stairs of the pool. "Yeah, real cute, Tony. Maybe your dad should wear the Space Armor again, and Trish the Artic suit and I can wear the Mandarin outfit. It sounds real nice."

"Now that you say it like that, it really does!" He agreed in an obviously mocking tone before he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to him. "Where are you going, Pepper? I'm right here."

"That's…t-that's…" she took in a deep breath to control her shivering. "That's why I'm heading the other way."

"Aw, come on, Pep. Where's your sense of adventure? Or… romance …" he added in a whisper as he rolled the tip of his nose down her exposed neck. The ginger was not sure if she was still shivering because of the cold or if it was because of what Tony's hands were doing to her under the water.

"Tony…stop…"

"Why?" He kissed her on the lips.

"You…you know why…"

Sadly, he did know why: the damn decision he was yet to make. The reason why Pepper refused to take their relationship to the next level until he committed to being the Mandarin or letting one of their kids become one, completely against their will, power or control.

"If you're not serious about it, Tony, you should tell me right now. I don't mind being the Mandarin that much anymore."

"But it's not fair, Pepper. It's not fair that you are forced to live like this."

"Just as it wasn't fair that you had to live your life for a while with an arc reactor in your chest."

"It's not the same. Having a reactor embedded in my chest affected only me."

"Is that what you think? That it only affected you? Tony, it killed me to see you being so close to death when your reactor was drained by the suit, and I know Rhodey was worried sick too. Nothing that happened to you ever only hurt you."

"That doesn't make the decision any easier, Pep."

"It never is, Tony." She responded to him before she got them both out of the water and onto the edge of the pool, and then dried up their clothes, all with the power of the rings. "It never is."

"It would seem so," he said before he silently followed her up to their room.


	27. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Six months had passed since her father's wedding, and she still remembered that night as if it had been yesterday. Everything had been fun and games, and Tony and she had gone off to sleep that night, promising to have an important conversation about his decision the next time they met. She had been hopeful and nervous, waiting for the commitment she needed from him. However, she had woken up to an empty bed, and that had been the last time she had seen or heard from him.

Well, she had heard from him when she tried texting him and he had responded that he was too busy to talk, and she had seen him when she had recently surprised him at his dorm in MIT one weekend when she had been left no homework from Stanford's tough pre-Law degree program. That had been a month ago, and he had walked in on him… with her…

She was beautiful, tall, slender and blonde…practically perfect. She reminded her of Whitney…and she had been hugging his bare chest. That was all Pepper had to see before she turned around and teleported back home. For once, she was grateful for having the Mandarin's rings.

Tony did not even try to contact her after that.

Needless to say, everything had gone downhill for her since then. She had buried herself in her studies, even gotten an internship with a much sought out law firm, and she could not wait to start her summer slaving in it. The only thing she had left of what she and Tony had had was the stupid promise ring she was too idiotic and too much in love with to return.

She stared up from said ring to the waves washing ashore near her, making sure she engrained their beauty in her memory. She had come here, to her favorite beach, to feel better about her situation, but the knowledge of the future status of her safe haven location had only made her feel worse than she already felt: the public beach had been bought, and tomorrow it would become the private estate of some greedy jerk.

Her heart caught in her throat when she felt him land behind her. He shed his suit as he walked to the bench she sat on and he sat next to her, but not close enough to have any physical contact with her. Neither of them dared to say a word for a while until Pepper cleared her throat. "I heard you're graduating early…next weekend."

"Yeah. Piece of cake," he nodded. "Never did want to spend that much time in school, anyway."

"I'm happy for you. I really am."

Another awkward silence befell them, and it was now Tony's turn to break it. "I guess you want an explanation. You deserve it, I should say."

"What I saw was very explicit, Tony. No explanation needed."

"I…" he sighed. "I guess it was."

"What are you here for, then?"

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, sighing nervously before he spoke again. "The ring…I kinda need it back."

_Should've seen that coming_. Pepper felt her heart being ripped out of her chest but she did not change her stance. Her left hand slid off the ring from her right hand and she returned it to him without sparing him a glance. He grabbed the ring and stared at it for a second before he dug inside his pants pocket and stood up from the bench.

The ginger stood up as well and gave her back to him, staring up at the construction workers at the top of the nearby cliff as they pretended they were not paying attention to the only couple in the beach.

"I guess that's that, then. I'll see you around," the redhead said, tears streaming down her cheeks now that her face was away from his.

"I guess so," he agreed and put his hands in his pockets as he saw Pepper begin to walk away.

The redhead called upon the rings to take her away from him as fast as they could, but his voice calling out to her again made her stop in her tracks, and the rings reverted to her body.

"There's one more thing, Pepper. Before you leave…"

The ginger took in a deep breath, wiped her tears with the back of her hands and turned around in place to see Tony down on one knee, just a few feet away from her, holding a diamond ring in a box in his hands. "Marry me."

It took all of Pepper's self-control not to unleash the mother of all Makluan attacks on him, but that did not stop her mouth from screaming at him. "WHAT?"

"Marry me," he repeated, and it was then that Pepper noticed how his hands and lips were trembling. His eyes were starting to shine brightly with unshed nervous tears, and he held on to the tiny box as if it was the only thing that kept him from falling apart.

"Are you insane?" She began. "You expect me to…believe…to accept…this is not a game, Tony.'

"No, it's not," he agreed. "What you saw, Pepper…it's not what you think…"

"You mean she's not…"

"He…he's not…"

Pepper shook her head as if she was expecting something to come out of her ears that was keeping her from listening properly. "He?"

"Lorna…formerly Lewis…"

"Lewis? Your roommate, Lewis? _That_ was Lewis?" The redhead asked as she remembered that Tony's roommate did have some transsexual tendencies in him.

"Yes, he…she…whatever…got the surgery to be…all girl…I guess. You walked in on him telling me about it."

"But…you didn't…and you haven't…_what_?"

Pepper half expected Tony to just give up and stand up from his position on the sand, but he did not move an inch. "That was Lewis. It's the truth. I promise. I've been very busy, Pepper. But I've stayed busy not to stay away from you, but because I was taking 12 classes so that I could finish early so that I could graduate and leave that life behind…so that I could move here with you…so that I could ask you to marry me."

Pepper's hands covered her mouth in an attempt to hold back a sob. When she finally removed them from her face, she spoke again. "But…you asked for the ring back…and you didn't bother to clear this up…the Lewis issue…"

"I know. I wanted to, but he suggested that I let you think the lie so that when I asked you, you'd be surprised. I guess it wasn't that bright of an idea, huh?" he shook his head at his own disappointment with himself. "I swear, Pepper, I've been planning to do this for a long time. Your dad has known for three months – he helped me pick out the ring."

Pepper covered her face with her hands and began to sob. Tony crawled his way closer to her, hugged her by the waist and buried his face on her stomach. "Please say 'yes,' Pepper," he whispered to her.

He felt her hands brush his unruly hair and she then slid down to kneel in front of him. She stared at him with expectant eyes and he understood the cue. He chuckled nervously, grabbed her left hand and slid the ring where it belonged. The inventor then took her left hand to his lips, and as he had done so before when he had given her the promise ring, he kissed her left ring finger. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she responded before she kissed him. It had been so long since they had been together so it felt as if it was the first time all over again. Tony whispered apologies to her in between kisses, and he promised her not to listen to a transsexual's advice on love ever again. Pepper laughed and accepted his apologies, and that night the two of them returned to Pepper's home to be received by their families, all ready to celebrate the couple's engagement.

Later on, on their wedding day, Tony would announce during the reception that he had a present for his bride, and it would turn out that the greedy jerk that had bought her favorite beach had been _her _greedy jerk, and that the construction workers she had seen that day he had proposed were working for him. And that was how Mr. and Mrs. Stark ended up living in Malibu Point, in a high-tech house on a cliff.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N:** Wow! My fingers are on FIRE! Well, this is done, and that leaves my Spanish IMAA fanfic to complete. I hear retirement bells…but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy writing for you. I hope you loved this fic, and that the end was to your satisfaction.

Nearly got you again, didn't I? Thank you all for reading, favoring, following and reviewing.

Peace out.


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